Digimon Adventure: Dark Uprising
by Mathemagician93
Summary: The five year peace following MaloMyotismon's defeat is shattered in an instant when old foes return and a new evil threatens to rise. However, for all the outer demons, the DigiDestined may have more trouble handling the darkness within themselves…
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Hi everyone, and welcome to my first fanfic. Now, despite really enjoying Digimon, I will have to confess that I haven't seen as much of it as I should have- I recently re-watched the first four seasons and read _V-Tamer 01,_ but I haven't seen anything that aired afterwards. In order to make up for that, I used the wiki a ton while preparing for this. While looking up information, I did come across some plot points from _Data Squad_ that are very similar to what I want to do, and obviously some of my plot points have been found in just about any continuation of _Adventure_ other people have written. I do not intend to steal anybody's ideas, but I will apologize in advance to anyone who thinks I stole their plots.

Now that I have explained some potential issues with the plot, I'll go a bit into the background of my story. First, I will be mixing some of the dub names and the original names within my story, only based on my personal preference with the names and which ones I am most comfortable with, so I'll apologize for any confusion that will arise because of that. Second, I will be basing my chronology mostly on the Japanese timeline, with _Adventure_ taking place in 1999, the movie _Our War Game_ taking place in early 2000 a few months before the DigiDestined give up their crests, the events of _02_ taking place in 2002, and _Revenge of Diaboromon _taking place in early 2003. I will also be including events from the CD dramas, especially "Armor Evolution to the Unknown", which occur sometime after the end of the show. I know the third movie, _Hurricane Landing_, is not canon, but I will be acting as if it happened in between episodes 21 and 22- Ken is no longer evil but is not a member of the team, and Davis, Yolei and Cody haven't reached champion form yet- this is the best place I could think to fit it in. This story will take place about five and a half years after 02, starting in July of the year 2008. Since I can't find any of the DigiDestined's birthdays, I'm going to assume the official ages given are the ages all the characters had in July of the years given, which means the ages are as follows in this story:

Jyou "Joe" Kido: 21

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya: 20

Yamato "Matt" Ishida: 20

Sora Takenouchi: 20

Mimi Tachikawa: 19

Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi: 19

Miyako "Yolei" Inoue: 18

Takeru "TK" Takaishi: 17

Hikari "Kari" Kamiya: 17

Daisuke "Davis" Motomiya: 17

Ken Ichijouji: 17

Iori "Cody" Hida: 15

I know _Adventure 02_ stopped with trying to get mainly plausible Anglicized nicknames for the DigiDestined, but I'm going to say the dub names are just nicknames for everybody just to be consistent. I will also be using the dub last name for Tai and Kari because, to me, Taichi Yagami refers to the _V-Tamer 01_ version. I am also going to assume that all the DigiDestined are among the younger members of their grades, so with a brief search on the Japanese school system, Joe is in his fourth year of college, and everyone else follows with the years they are behind him, meaning TK, Kari, Davis, and Ken are in their final year of high school and Cody is in his first year, since in Japan high school lasts for three years instead of the four here in America. I will be trying to make this as close to canon as possible for a fanfic, so the epilogue that we saw set in 2027, or at least my interpretation of that epilogue, is still going to happen. How we get to that epilogue is completely up to me, however, so you can expect a bumpy ride before we get to that mainly idyllic ending. And since this Author's note wasn't ridiculously long enough yet, I'd just like to quickly thank my friend Meghan for being my beta reader and helping me fix a few mistakes. Now, I hope you enjoy the story!

Mathemagician

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any of its forms.

* * *

_The first thing she was aware of was the feeling of the sand lying beneath her. Puzzled at this, she pushed herself upright and opened her eyes to examine her surroundings. What met her was not the bright sandy beach where she had been hoping to spend most of her summer vacation, but instead a dismal gray expanse that met an ocean that had no hint of blue. Though she hadn't seen this place in years, she knew instantly where she was: the Dark Ocean. Before she could wonder about how she had ended up here, she noticed the vast multitude of shadowy creatures rising out of the ocean and coming towards her. Quickly looking around for a means to escape, she realized she was not alone, as she saw three other familiar figures stirring in the sand behind her._

"_TK? Yolei? Ken? Are you alright?"_

_The three others sat up, but before they could respond, she was answered by a deep, booming voice from the direction of the ocean._

"_I'm glad to see your light still makes you care so much for others, Kari. However, a queen really shouldn't distract herself with such worthless creatures. I guess I'll just have to remove them! Forbidden Trident!"_

_Kari looked to see a giant blue creature that was composed almost entirely of tentacles. However, most of them were chained together in a grotesque facsimile of human limbs, and a pair of red demonic wings extended from his back. His head looked much like an octopus, but his mouth was lined with sharp fangs and a necklace of black pearls hung on his neck. However, the main thing Kari noticed was the giant trident held in the creature's single tentacle that served as his right arm. The creature hurled the trident towards the beach, but to Kari's horror, it was aimed directly at the others. She ran towards her three friends, but this only served to allow the trident to hit all four of them…_

Suddenly, four separate teenagers bolted upright in their beds.

* * *

As soon as Kari had calmed down from her nightmare, she noticed a large pair of blue eyes staring at her from the foot of her bed. However, she only panicked for a brief second before she realized the eyes belonged to the white, catlike form of her partner Gatomon. Her friend was looking at her with concern clearly visible on her face.

"Are you okay, Kari?"

"I'm fine Gatomon. I just had a nightmare- it wasn't anything to worry about. I'm probably just really stressed from the end of the term and the last of my college applications. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I'm pretty sure you don't start flickering because you're stressed. That hasn't happened since you went to the Dark Ocean six years ago. I know you hate to have other people worry about you so much, but you have to tell us if there is a major issue so we can try to help!"

Kari paled slightly at her words- if she really had been flickering, than had her dream been more than just a dream? She had thought the creatures of the Dark Ocean had given up on making her their queen. They hadn't done anything since that first meeting, but now they seemed to be attacking- no, she couldn't afford to think like that. That train of thought would just lead her into panic, and she had promised herself a long time ago that she wouldn't always sit around panicking and waiting for someone to come and save her. Besides, even if the Dark Ocean really was after her again, she would have the dreams for a few weeks before she actually got pulled into that world, just like last time. One night didn't really mean anything, and getting upset about the attack would only make it easier for the darkness to get a hold of her. So, the logical thing from her point of view was merely to view the experience as a simple nightmare.

"I don't know. You might have imagined me flickering, and even if the Dark Ocean is getting stronger, it will be much more difficult for it to take me. I'm not going to just sit by and let the darkness scare me like a little kid anymore. It was only one dream, and I'm not going to ruin our plans for the upcoming reunion just so people can start worrying like crazy over me again."

Gatomon sighed, but had to admit her partner had a point. The flickering she had seen had been so faint and over so quickly that she may have just imagined it. Also, even though Kari was now a very independent teenager, people still tended to fuss over her like she was a helpless newborn kitten whenever there was a potential threat. Knowing how much she resented this treatment, Gatomon decided to let the issue slide- for now. Besides, telling the other DigiDestined would ruin the important reunion planned for the upcoming weekend.

Despite saving the world together and remaining close friends, the DigiDestined had had a much harder time staying as a close group as they grew older. Ken had always gone to a different school than the others, but with all of the DigiDestined older than Kari going off to college for different subjects it was too hard for them all to do more than the occasional online chat. Thus, they tried to make sure all twelve of them would leave one week in their summer break open so they could all get together. This also served as a way for all the Digimon to meet with their partners again. While the younger kids still lived with their Digimon at home, the older kids hadn't been allowed to keep their best friends with them when they moved off to college. While the world as a whole was slowly getting more accustomed to Digimon coming to the real world, many people refused to see them as unique individuals and merely considered them dangerous pets. This view was only reinforced by the popular Virtual Pet videogame released back in 2004, which, though being based on Digimon, revolved strictly around raising the creatures to battle. Thus, every university had taken to banning Digimon from its campus, and the DigiDestined thought it would be better to follow this rule rather than expose their friends to the dangers of an intolerant society. Of course, they were working on getting people to accept Digimon through various awareness groups and student organizations on campus, but social change requires time, and they weren't going to hurt their cause by becoming radical extremists with their protests. The Digimon understood this and returned to the Digital World, but they still enjoyed every chance they got to be with their partners. While all the gates between the worlds had been opened in the fight with MaloMyotismon, allowing anybody with a Digivice the ability to travel between worlds instead of needing a D3 to open the gate first, the rigors of university life had only allowed brief reunions between the partners. Thus the week long reunion in the summer was the favorite time of year for all the Digimon and their partners. It wouldn't be good to ruin that experience by making everyone worry about Kari because she had one nightmare.

"Ok Kari, I guess you are right. I won't tell anybody else about this. However, if this keeps happening and you don't tell anybody, I will tell Tai, Davis, and TK personally. And you know how they would react to finding out you're in danger. Davis may not be desperately in love with you anymore, and Tai may live in Kyoto now, but you know they would have WarGreymon and ExVeemon over here in minutes if you were in danger. And as your best friend, TK would have MagnaAngemon hovering over you so much that people would view you as the weird girl with the two guardian angels following you everywhere. So, if anything fishy keeps happening, promise me you'll talk with the others about it."

"Fine Gatomon, I promise I'll tell the others in the unlikely event that the Dark Ocean decides to call me. Now go back to sleep. We have a big day of preparations tomorrow before everyone shows up this weekend."

* * *

Despite Gatomon's worries, none of the DigiDestined had any more nightmares the next few nights. Their days passed in a blur right up until the reunion that weekend, when all the older kids finally managed to find the time between their classes and after school jobs. However, even after all of their schedules cleared up, there was an unforeseen issue that arose: even though all the Digital gates were supposed to remain open, the DigiDestined kept failing to access a gate. It took Izzy 10 hours of work to find a gate that led to the top of Infinity Mountain. Since this was not exactly the ideal meeting place for a reunion, with the cold temperatures, uneven landscape, and bad memories for the first seven DigiDestined, the reunion started with Pegasusmon and Nefertimon flying all the arrivals down the mountain to the original meeting place, which was the island that held the trolley car during the original adventure in the Digital World. All of the Digimon except Veemon, Wormmon, and Armadillomon had already gathered there, so while TK and Kari continued to ferry the humans down, all the partners got a chance to reconnect. Then, there was another delay as the group sent out a search party to find Michael's Betamon- Michael had been dating Mimi for two months, but with his father having to move from set to set for his newest movie, they hadn't had as much time together as they would have liked, so Mimi invited him along. Finally, the group was all reunited and could relax, except for Izzy who immediately started working on his laptop in order to contact Gennai about the portal situation.

Michael was the first to break the comfortable silence that came over the group.

"Thanks for letting me come along to this reunion, even though I'm not really part of your group. I've heard about all of you from Mimi, but I've only really briefly met Davis, Ken, Yolei, Cody, Kari, and TK, and that was six years ago. How about you all tell me about yourselves? In case you don't know me, I'm Michael. I live in New York, and I'm trying to become an actor like my dad, so I'm taking a bunch of performing arts classes whenever we aren't moving from set to set. My partner's Betamon, who'll probably say hi to all of you as soon as he stops chatting with the Seadramon he saw in the lake. How about all of you?"

Sora was the first to respond. "It's nice to finally meet you Michael. My name's Sora. I'm sure Mimi told you a lot about me, but I'm going to the University of Kyoto. I honestly wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do for a career, but since my dad teaches there I could get a bunch of financial aid and figure it out as I went along. It was also a good chance for me to reconnect with my dad, since I didn't really get to see him very often growing up. Recently, I've been helping Matt out with the wardrobe for his band and found I really enjoyed it, so I'm thinking about going into fashion design after I graduate at the end of next year. Plus, I found this was a good way to generate some positive publicity for Digimon by having my partner Biyomon help out. If people see that Digimon can be just as artistic as humans, they'll probably stop viewing them as dangerous monsters. That's pretty much all I've been up to lately."

Matt was the next to introduce himself. "Well, since Sora already mentioned me, I guess I can go next. We actually met for like two minutes six years ago, but just in case you don't remember me my name is Matt. I'm also in my third year of studying in Kyoto, since I wanted to go to the same school as Sora. I'm still working as the lead singer for The Teenage Wolves, but we haven't really had any hit songs since 'Turn Around', so I know I'm not going to make it in the music business. Don't get me wrong, I love making music, but I just don't think I'd be able to make a living off of it. However, I think it's a pretty good way to give Digimon a better reputation. WereGarurumon even became our official mascot. With him showing up to autograph sessions and Biyomon helping with our wardrobes, the band is really helping people see they can get along with Digimon. Other than that, I've been studying astronomy. I hadn't ever really thought about what I wanted to study, but I thought it was really cool to see space when we were flying around the world on Imperialdramon, so I thought I might try to be an astronaut. That's pretty much my life right now. Why don't you introduce yourself next, Tai?"

"Sure, why not? I'm Tai, the last of the group studying at Kyoto. I got a partial scholarship there for soccer, plus I didn't have to worry about finding a roommate since I could just live with my best friend the whole time. That plan kinda backfired with how messy he is, but—"

"Hey," Matt interrupted, "you're even messier than I am, so stop nitpicking."

"As far as I can tell, I'm still the one who cleans the most. I swear you plan your dates with Sora to perfectly match up with whenever someone is coming over to visit so I get stuck with the mess. I'm supposed to be the leader here. Isn't part of that being able to delegate tasks?"

"Well, Mr. Fearless Leader, why don't you just continue introducing yourself?"

Tai looked like he was about to continue the argument, but he was interrupted in the form of Kari's elbow jabbing into his ribs.

"Come on Tai," Kari chided, "you keep saying you want to be an ambassador to the Digital World, but how would any government take you seriously if you keep being so immature? And Michael, I'm sorry about this. Tai and Matt seem to think the best way to keep a healthy friendship is to always argue or fight whenever there isn't something serious they need to do."

"Oh, it isn't really a problem," Michael responded. "I'm trying to be an actor. I see people with much stranger relationships every day."

Tai couldn't help but chuckle at this before he continued. "Still, I should apologize. My sister's right, I need to work on my first impressions if I'll ever make it as a diplomat. Anyway, I'm three years into a political science major at Kyoto, and I've been spending some of my weekends with Agumon here in the Digital World learning how the government here differs from ours. I eventually want to get the Digital World the same status as any country on Earth, but until that happens I've been focusing on leading a student group designed to spread awareness about Digimon. That's pretty much all I do these days. Not quite as exciting as saving the world was, but it's still all for a good cause." After saying this, he grinned and added, "Now, since Kari was nice enough to elbow me in the ribs, I think she should be the next one to tell you what she's been up to."

Kari just rolled her eyes. "Well, there really isn't that much to talk about. I'm in my last year of high school, so I've basically been waiting to hear back from all the universities I applied to. I really want to be an elementary school teacher, so I applied to a bunch of schools with a good education program. I'm also hoping that some of the universities will change their stance on Digimon before I enroll, because I'd just feel so strange to be separated from Gatomon again. Other than my classes and applications, I've been keeping busy working as a photographer for the school paper and helping TK edit all of his stories. Like Tai said, we haven't had too many exciting things happen to us since the last time we saw you. The older kids probably have more interesting stories than most of us, with all their work in college."

Since Kari appeared to be finished, Joe decided to take his turn. "Well, I really don't know if I would call my life 'interesting', but I guess I can introduce myself next. I'm Joe, and I'm in my last year of undergraduate work at the University of Tokyo before I go into medical school. I've wanted to be a doctor for a long time, and now that the Digital World is open all the time I figured I could help treat any wounded Digimon. I guess I had the idea ever since I treated an Ogremon when we fought the Dark Masters, but this place could really use a doctor and I thought I would be perfect for the job. Of course, since Digimon have so many physiological differences from humans, I've had to work towards a veterinary degree as well, with a bunch of computer classes thrown in since understanding how data behaves is as important as understanding human biology is for a regular doctor. With all the work I've been doing, just about everyone in my classes is thinking I'm allergic to socialization. I barely have any time to even talk with Gomamon."

"Well, you can't really blame them," TK interrupted. "Didn't you always say you were allergic to just about everything our first time in the Digital World? Plus, now that I think about it, every single time something has come up, you've always been doing some form of schoolwork. You missed both fights with Diaboromon because of tests, remember?"

"I can't help it that I wanted to succeed in life," Joe snapped back. "Besides, I believe I always came through when you needed me. I don't recall you complaining I was unreliable when I saved you from drowning and got us back into Odaiba when Myotismon was attacking."

Seeing that Joe hadn't taken his joke well, TK was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry Joe. I didn't mean to insult you. I was just trying to say it was ironic that other people were using talking about you being allergic to something instead of just you. I guess I've been working too hard on my story and kinda confused you with what you were like back when we first arrived here."

Seeing how he had overreacted, Joe quickly felt the need to apologize as well. "Yeah, I'm sorry I snapped at you too. I haven't really been getting that much sleep with all the work I've had to do, so I guess I'm just a bit more irritable than usual. Why don't you introduce yourself next?"

Glad that there were no hard feelings, the blond decided to continue with the introductions. "Okay. Well, I'm in my senior year at Odaiba high school, along with Kari and Davis. I'm the captain of the school basketball team, but I spend most of my time working on my creative writing. Since my mom is a journalist, she has some connections in the publishing world, so I've been working on getting a manuscript written about our first adventure in the Digital World. I thought the best way to get people to see our point of view on Digimon would be to show them exactly how we had that view in the first place. I still don't understand why people would be scared of someone like Patamon, so I wanted to show how great of friends they can be to people. If they can be the only company for a group of kids and the kids grow up better because of it, why would people want to stop that? Of course, nobody wants to read a day by day account of a few months, so I've been cutting out certain things. I really owe Kari a lot for her being my test audience and helping me to improve my writing."

"Oh, so are you two still dating then?" Michael felt the need to ask.

This simple question resulted in TK and Kari both blushing and shouting "WHAT?" in perfect unison, much to the enjoyment of the other DigiDestined. The only exceptions were Izzy, who seemed to be lost in his computer, and Cody, who managed to restrain himself out of respect for the feelings of his two friends.

"Well," Michael explained, "Remember the first time I met you? After Gorillamon attacked, you were awfully quick to fly off into the woods together, and even though you said you were looking for Digitamamon he showed up like ten seconds after you left. We weren't exactly quiet in that fight, but you still didn't show up for a while. So, I just thought you two were trying to turn it into a date. Plus, Mimi just keeps gushing about how you two make the cutest couple, so I figured I was right."

This last comment only brought a unified "MIMI!" from TK and Kari, a small giggle and an "Oops?" from Mimi that showed she really wasn't sorry about her comments, and more laughter from the group, including a snort from Cody that showed he was struggling to contain himself. Luckily, or unluckily, for the two victims, Davis decided to come to their rescue, in his own way.

"Don't feel bad about your assumption, Michael- everyone in the school thinks they are dating too. Of course, they are _just_ best friends who spend just about every waking moment together, go to movies, restaurants, and concerts with each other, and spend more time together than Ken and Yolei or Matt and Sora combined. And I can speak from experience when I say that TK can eventually drive off anybody who would want to date Kari, and she can do the same for any girls who would want to date him. Not that they actually try to intimidate people, but everybody knows that they would spend more time with each other than their significant others anyway." Seeing as his help was only serving to further embarrass his friends, Davis decided to try a different approach and change the subject. "But enough about them. Why don't I catch you up next? I'm the star player on the Odaiba soccer team, and my skills have helped us get the regional tournament the past two years. We may have lost both times, but we managed to take Tamachi to overtime despite them having Ken on their team! If you don't know how impressive that is, he set the record for most goals in a season back in 2002 and nobody's come close to his mark since then. Other than my awesomeness on the field and the fact that I am actually putting effort into my schoolwork now, I spend most of my time working on my noodle recipes with Veemon. I'm getting close to the point where I can actually start up my own cart and finally get on my way to fulfilling my childhood dream. I actually made a bunch of the food for this reunion, so you'll get to taste my handiwork. Well, since that's about all I've been up to, how about I let my best friend and eternal soccer rival introduce himself next? You saw him in Miami when we flew in on Imperialdramon, but I don't think you had time to introduce yourselves."

Ken obviously wasn't comfortable with how Davis introduced him, but he decided to listen to him and he started to introduce himself. "Well, I don't know if I really deserve all of Davis's praise, but my name is Ken. I'm in my senior year at Tamachi high school, and like Davis said, I'm the captain of the soccer team. Don't put so much stock in that record he mentioned though. I definitely don't deserve it, since I had an unfair advantage. Back when I was nine, I took my first trip to the Digital World. My memories of that trip are still a bit fuzzy, but I helped fight against an evil Digimon named Millenniummon. During that fight, he released a bunch of things called Dark Spores, one of which implanted itself in my neck. This spore caused me to become much smarter and more athletic, so I became famous as some sort of child prodigy. However, the Dark Spore also drew out my inner darkness, and I eventually lost myself and became the Digimon Emperor. It took Wormmon sacrificing himself to stop me in order for me to finally see the error of my ways, and thanks to Davis, Yolei, Cody, TK, and Kari, I managed to fix everything I had done wrong and redeem myself. Now, I want to use the horrible things I did as motivation to stop other people from getting in so deep with the same mistakes I made, so I'm going to attend the police academy next year and eventually try to be a detective. If I had to be stopped before I could start fixing my life, I want to work towards stopping other people from going too far down the wrong path so they can save themselves. Plus, as much as I don't like it, I do have a little experience with how a self-viewed criminal mastermind thinks, so I would probably be a good detective. Other than that, I've been enjoying spending my time with Yolei. How about she introduces herself to you next?"

Bristling with her usual excitement, Yolei immediately started to re-introduce herself to Michael. "Okay honey. Like Ken says, we spend most of our time together. We've been dating for just over a year, and he is just the most amazing boyfriend ever." Ken quickly blushed and tried to appear smaller, his shy personality still not quite used to Yolei's outspoken praise of him. "But since I can't make a career out of being a great girlfriend, I've been taking some computer classes along with my introductory courses at the local university. I'm still working at my parent's convenience store, and it has gotten a lot less awkward now that I'm not the only DigiDestined in the family- my two older sisters both have partners now, and what's great is I can finally give them advice instead of the other way around! They all look to me as a role model instead of as their crazy younger sibling. It's sorta nice this way. I can't believe I ever wanted to be an only child. But I guess you don't really know about that incident. When we fought MaloMyotismon, he did this thing to us where we started to see a world of things we desired and-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt Yolei," Cody, the youngest yet in many ways most mature member of the group, stated, "but if we don't hurry and try to finish the introductions, we won't be able to eat the food before it starts going bad. He doesn't need to know all the details of all of our fights right now. We shouldn't get distracted from our chance to have fun by constantly going over our pasts, no matter how important. My grandfather always says those who forget the past are fools, but those who forget the present and future are worse than fools."

"Well, I don't know if we don't ever want to talk about our past for this whole week, but I guess you are right about the food. Though I'm not really sure if your DNA Digivolving partner would be happy to hear you de-emphasize the past, especially since he's planning on making a living off of his past experience. But I guess we should move on with the introductions. Wait, that's right. I guess I didn't really introduce myself. Sure, I probably know you better than anybody here except Mimi, but we may as well just have everybody do introductions. I'm Yolei, and my partner is Hawkmon. Now, since Cody was the one to say we need to move on with introductions, why doesn't he go next?"

Cody sighed before speaking. "That isn't exactly what I meant. I was just saying we have to focus on the present and future as much as the past. Anyway, it is a pleasure to meet you again, Michael. In case you don't remember, my name is Iori Hida, but you can call me Cody. I'm the youngest of this group, so I just started my first year of high school and don't have as many obligations as the others. I do volunteer a bit at the community center helping teach beginner kendo lessons, but it doesn't take up very much time in a week. I spend most of my free time with my grandfather, either practicing kendo or just listening to his advice. He's sort of accepted Armadillomon as a second grandson, so we do a lot of things as a family. I'm also friends with a lot of the children who got infected with Dark Spores back when MaloMyotismon was possessing Oikawa, so even when the next group graduates, I won't be the only DigiDestined at school. Even though I just started high school, I already have an idea of what I want to do when I'm an adult. I think I'd want to be a lawyer. I used to think that the world was divided into good people and bad people, but my experience with Oikawa and Ken showed me it isn't that simple. So, I'd like to go into legal studies so I can help the people stuck in the gray area between good and evil. Well, I guess Izzy is the only one who hasn't introduced himself, so how about he goes next?"

If Izzy noticed his name had been mentioned, he didn't show it. The only sign that he was still conscious was the constant tapping of his computer keys and occasional mutterings under his breath, with the approximately ten dark mutterings for every "Prodigious". Cody looked like he was about to repeat his question, but Mimi quickly got his attention by stealing his laptop.

Izzy finally seemed to notice the presence of the others, but his emotional response was far from positive. "Hey, give that back! I was just about to figure out how to send a message to Gennai and see if he knows what's going on with the gate! For some reason, all communications are being blocked. It's like there's some sort of firewall that's has me locked out of the world."

Mimi didn't let his outburst faze her. "Well, I'll give you your computer back if you promise to introduce yourself to Michael. I'll even buy you some time by introducing myself. So, what will it be?"

Knowing it would be quicker and easier to go along with Mimi rather than argue with her, Izzy relented. "Okay, fine. I promise I'll introduce myself after you do. Now, can I please have my laptop back?"

"Of course. Here you go!" Mimi said brightly as she handed back the laptop. While Izzy immediately got back to work, she cheerfully introduced herself to the group, despite the fact that everybody knew her. "Hi everyone, my name is Mimi. I've been dating Michael for a couple of months, but we haven't had too much time together, which is why I invited him along for this reunion. I'm in my second year of studying at a culinary academy in New York. At first I thought I'd go into fashion design- I mean, come on, I have such a great fashion sense and would totally love making a living that way- but I found cooking just feels much more natural to me. Plus, Palmon is actually really talented in the kitchen, and she feels more comfortable cooking than modeling. So, we've been doing just that! I even prepared some of my newest dishes for us to try out this week. Obviously, I don't have them with me, but I thought we could just quick open up a gate and grab them from my fridge. Speaking of the gates, Izzy, I hope you've figured out how to talk to Gennai, because it's time for you to introduce yourself."

"Prodigious! I got the message to go through! Now I just need to wait for his response and- why is everybody staring at me?" Remembering that he would most likely lose his laptop if he didn't honor his previous agreement, Izzy quickly continued "Oh, that's right, it's time for me to introduce myself. Sorry about the wait Michael, but my name is Izzy, and you've probably already realized I'm a bit obsessed with computers. I've been working with them since I was six, so I became an expert with technology. Right now, I'm studying at the Tokyo University of Technology, and I'm doing a research project on the Digital World. Since it is directly related to my research, my professor is more lenient with me bringing a Digimon to the lab, so I get to spend more time with Tentomon. He's excited to study how the human world studies things, but not nearly as excited as I am to study the Digital World. It was pretty much a dream come true for me as a 10 year old, and now I can make a living out of studying it. That's about all there is to know about me. So, now that introductions are done, what are we planning on—?"

Izzy's question was interrupted by a beeping from his computer that signaled he had received a message. He quickly read the message, but it only lead to more questions than answers.

"This doesn't make any sense. Why would Gennai demand that we leave the Digital World immediately? Even if something dangerous managed to get past Oikawa's protection, we released the crests so the Sovereigns could help defend the world. If something was too dangerous for them to handle, wouldn't they have called us in to help like they did the last two times they were sealed?"

Even though Izzy had known these were rhetorical questions at the moment, he was unfortunate enough to receive an answer from an evil sounding voice behind them.

"Perhaps because they know that I am here to destroy you!"

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I get that this chapter was probably really boring, but I needed a way to show what all the DigiDestined are doing after five and a half years. They've all been keeping in touch so it's not like they would need to do these introductions if only the main cast was present, so I used Michael just to make that happen. Don't worry, he will have a bigger role than Mr. Exposition in the future. Anyway, I hope the intro and overly cliché ominous voice at the end are enough to keep you interested until the next chapter. I'm hoping to get that posted later tonight, since I have the story entirely written and just need to reformat it. Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a review or message me with any questions or comments!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Would this be a fanfic if I did?

* * *

Honestly, Tai had been half expecting something like this to happen. Everyone had just finished talking about how their life wasn't as exciting as it had been six years ago when they were saving the world. With such an invitation like that, the universe was just bound to send something dangerous their way. So, when a demonic Digimon proclaimed he was going to destroy them, Tai was far from shocked. However, he did have to question if the universe was being serious with this, or just going through the motions. If it really wanted to harm the DigiDestined for complaining, wouldn't have sent something that didn't look like a tacky cross between a satyr and a bat? This Digimon was even kind enough to shout out that it was going to destroy them, and thus gave them time to prepare. He seemed to be putting on an act designed to scare any pre-teen child on their first trip into the Digital World. Unfortunately for him, his audience had gotten through much more terrifying experiences many times over. Still, a fight against an evil Digimon would prove to be an exciting way to start the reunion, so Tai decided to just enjoy the ride this time.

"Hey, Agumon," Tai whispered, "What do you say we have a little fun with this? He seems to be the grandstanding type, so how about I get him talking about himself while you Warp Digivolve?"

Seeing Agumon nod, Tai raised his voice and addressed his opponent. "So, you're going to destroy us, huh? That's an awfully big claim, especially considering everybody else who has tried. Who are you to think you can succeed where the Dark Masters failed?"

"If you must know, I can be so confident because I already have destroyed you once in the past! I am Mephistomon, an Ultimate level Fallen Angel Digimon born from the data of Apocalymon. I am the legacy of all his suffering and desire for revenge. Now prepare to- what?!"

Tai couldn't help but snort at his opponent's bafflement. While he had been going through the whole "extremely evil threat" introduction, the DigiDestined had all managed to reach their Ultimate forms, either through DNA Digivolving in the case of the newer generation or using the power from Azulongmon's DigiCore for the older generation. The only exception was Michael's Betamon, who had Digivolved to Seadramon and was currently hissing at the Fallen Angel Digimon from the lake. However, Tai soon became just as confused as their opponent as he saw MetalGreymon flying above him instead of WarGreymon.

"Hey, what gives? Since when do you Warp Digivolve to Ultimate instead of Mega?"

"I'm sorry Tai," MetalGreymon apologized, "but I just couldn't get past this stage. It started off the same as it usually did, but instead of shooting straight through the Champion and Ultimate stages I stopped here."

Since his partner was just as confused as he was, Tai decided to let the issue go for now and ask Izzy about it later. It wasn't like they would need Megas for this fight anyway. "Don't worry about it buddy. He's only an Ultimate. Even if he's the strongest Ultimate in existence, he won't be able to take all of us. We outnumber him nine to one. Now go get him MetalGreymon!"

"You got it Tai. Giga Blaster!"

Two missiles fired from MetalGreymon's chest and headed towards Mephistomon, who seemed to still be in shock at the fact that the DigiDestined had used his monologue against him. However, he recovered quickly enough to fire a strange pink beam that intercepted the missiles, causing them to harmlessly explode in midair. This seemed to serve as a signal for the other Digimon to begin the battle, with Shakkoumon, Paildramon, and Silphymon getting to him first. Seeing as any attacks they sent would be more likely to hit their allies than their enemy, the other Digimon decided to stay back and protect their partners from any wayward attacks. Zudomon was the first to point out the apparent waste of firepower.

"Joe, why exactly did we all Digivolve if we aren't even needed in this fight?" As if to prove his point, Mephistomon was suddenly slammed into the ground due to the impact of a Static Force from Silphymon while he had been trying to counter Shakkoumon's Justice Beam with his own pink beam attack. "Seriously, those three fighting him now were enough to give BlackWarGreymon a run for his money when they fought him, and he was a powerful Mega. This guy doesn't stand a chance!"

Suddenly, Mephistomon sprang back up in the air and unleashed a black explosion that caught all three DNA Ultimates. It initially appeared to have no effect, but the DigiDestined were shocked to see all three suddenly split back into their constituent champion forms before falling from the sky. They hit the ground and reverted to rookie, but before Mephistomon could inflict any further harm he was forced back by a combination of a Horn Buster from MegaKabuterimon, a Wing Blade from Garudamon, a Flower Cannon from Lillymon, and another Giga Blaster from MetalGreymon. This bought the newer generation time to gather their fallen partners while Zudomon and WereGarurumon, incapable of flying after Mephistomon, stood guard.

Joe immediately began to reprimand his partner. "You were saying? Just because our side is really strong doesn't mean the enemy won't have tricks you weren't expecting. Whenever you say nothing can go wrong, you have to be prepared for everything to go wrong!"

Zudomon merely rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, Joe. You really should get more sleep. You haven't been this paranoid since your first time to the Digital World. I guess I did underestimate him, but if you believe you can't win, how can you ever actually win?"

Joe was about to respond to Zudomon's point when he saw that Mephistomon was flying straight at them. Seeing the other four Ultimates chasing him down, Joe could only assume that it was trying to go after the much easier to destroy humans now instead of dealing with the combined strength of four foes. Clearly, whatever that dark attack was that had knocked out the three DNA Ultimates wasn't something he could use repeatedly. However, even though he was now only facing two foes instead of four, he didn't count on the teamwork of Zudomon and WereGarurumon. The werewolf-like Digimon hopped onto Zudomon's hammer, which Zudomon proceeded to throw with his Hammer Boomerang attack. Mephistomon managed to avoid the hammer, but as soon as he committed to his dodge WereGarurumon hopped off of the hammer and struck the Fallen Angel with his Wolf Claw attack. This knocked Mephistomon into the lake, where he was quickly blasted out by a double Water Breath attack from Michael's Seadramon and his wild counterpart. Michael's Seadramon then joined the other Digimon in gathering around their partners on the island. However, the peaceful moment was short lived as Mephistomon flew back into the scene.

"You fools! I was planning on letting you suffer as you struggled to survive, but now I'm forced to kill you all right now! BLACK SABB—"

However, before he could finish his attack, a dazzling explosion right in his face disoriented him. A voice called out "Pit Bomb!" and another explosion immediately followed. By the time his head had cleared, Mephistomon found himself flying over a deserted landscape with no sign of the DigiDestined. With the object of his revenge having escaped him, he could only vent his fury by blasting the island that had recently held them to rubble.

* * *

To say that Matt was shocked by Piximon's sudden appearance and barrier escape would be an understatement. Sure, he had seen Piximon randomly appear before and use the same technique, but that had been in their first encounter with the Dark Masters when there had been no way to win and seemingly no way to escape. This time, it seemed as though Piximon was saving their opponent instead of them. Sure, Mephistomon had been strong enough to knock out the three DNA Ultimates in one attack, but they had been beating him around for a while before that and when the fight shifted to four on one, he was getting swatted around like a tennis ball. Even WereGarurumon by himself had managed to hurt him with one hit, so he was nothing like the Dark Masters who had managed to shrug off anything thrown at them the first time around. Still, he knew Piximon was an ally and a friend, so he decided to give the pink mentor the benefit of the doubt. However, the same could not be said of Tai and Davis, who sometimes let their hot-headedness overshadow their leadership skills.

"What's the big idea, Piximon?" Tai asked. "Not that I don't appreciate everything you've done for us before, but why did you decide to save Mephistomon? I know we shouldn't just destroy any Digimon we come across that doesn't like us, but he attacked us first and is basically the reincarnation of Apocalymon. He shouldn't be allowed to spread the same terror as his past self."

Davis was even harsher with his response. "Yeah, you flying pink puffball, who gave you the right to stop our fight? We had him on the ropes! I know you saved everybody nine years ago, but why are you working against us now?"

Seemingly irritated at Davis's comments, Piximon decided to ignore him and focus on responding to Tai. "You still haven't changed much since you first got here, have you? Isn't this arrogance what got you into trouble with SkullGreymon in the first place? Mephistomon may have survived because of my interference, but he wasn't the main threat. There is a much greater evil at work here, and if you continued to make a show of fighting Mephistomon, they would have easily found and eliminated you. I had to take you to safety before any of you could be destroyed, or worse, captured."

Matt's eyes widened at this last statement. In the times he had seen Piximon, he had only taken this serious of a tone when he was talking about sacrificing himself to save the DigiDestined. Every other time, he talked in some sort of inverted syntax and ended sentences with a "Yup yup." If he wasn't bothering with his carefree speech patterns, this evil threat was clearly much greater than they had thought. Izzy seemed to be on the same wavelength, as he was now starting to question Piximon on the exact details of the situation.

"Okay, Mephistomon's appearance clearly shows that dark forces are once again rising in the Digital World. But that raises the question of how that could possibly happen. The Sovereigns are supposed to protect the world from this kind of chaos. The only times they were unable to do so, the Digital World called for help from children in the real world, first with the original five DigiDestined, then twice with our group. However, that clearly didn't happen, as we were actually locked out of the Digital World instead of called in. In addition, Oikawa sacrificed himself within the Land of Dreams in order to continually protect the world. What exactly is going on that none of the fail-safes of the Digital World are working?"

Piximon, however, seemed unwilling to answer Izzy's questions. "That isn't something that is important for you to know. While it might not seem like it, we are managing to take care of everything. Getting you out of this world is the number one priority. All of our plans will fail completely if we lose you. We can save our own world, but only if you leave immediately. I'm not sure how you even got here, but we will be sending you back as soon as we can."

This sudden determination to not allow the DigiDestined to help struck Matt as a very bad sign. Sure, Piximon had been a huge jerk to all of them the first time they saw him, but he did everything in his power to help them save the Digital World, including sacrificing himself. Was this new threat so bad that Piximon thought there was no hope for victory and was just trying to save the DigiDestined from certain failure? Well, regardless of how bad it was, Matt knew he couldn't sit idly by while something tried to destroy the Digital World. Many of his friends called this home, and he wouldn't abandon a friend in need. Plus, he found it difficult to believe all hope had been lost. After all, his little brother did pretty much embody the trait. If TK could still find enough hope to save the day while running for his life from a demonic clown that had already turned just about everybody else into key chains, Matt was certain that the combined might of thirteen DigiDestined would be enough to give a fighting chance in any battle. Regardless of what Piximon wanted, the DigiDestined would always do everything they could to save the world. Nothing would or could change that.

Izzy also had issues with Piximon's response. "Well, if you won't answer any questions about what's going on, I guess we'll just have to go elsewhere. Everybody, gather together."

With that, he finished typing some sequence on his laptop, and all the DigiDestined and their Digimon disappeared in a flash of light. Piximon could only stare in disbelief at the fact that his former students had refused to listen to him.

"You don't realize what you've just done. You may have doomed both of our worlds!"

* * *

When Izzy rematerialized, he was surprised to find he was not in Gennai's house but instead was standing in the room of some form of temple or sanctuary. Figuring that Gennai would be the best source of answers available to the group, he had merely used the same program he had used to transport everyone to Datamon's location when they were looking for Sora's crest to send the thirteen of them to the same location that Gennai's initial warning had come from. Judging by the tone of that particular message, Gennai was likely to want them gone as much as Piximon did, but Izzy was hoping Gennai would be more willing to explain than the pink Digimon. Sure enough, a few moments after arriving Izzy heard Gennai's voice coming from behind him. However, Gennai certainly didn't sound pleased to see any of them.

"How exactly did you manage to get here? We have raised a barrier to prevent any and all transportation between the worlds. On top of that, this is a highly secure area that nobody without my approval should be able to enter. Please explain exactly how you managed to get past both layers of security and then I will be sending you all home."

Izzy realized that Gennai wouldn't just be giving him any more information, but he was fed up with being in the dark. "I don't think so. Piximon was just as desperate to send us back to Earth, but he wouldn't explain why. I thought you would help us, but clearly I was wrong. If you won't willingly tell us what's going on, we can always just blast our way out of here and find out for ourselves. It really wouldn't be too difficult, since I managed to hack through your inter-dimensional barrier that you claim was impossible to breach. As for getting in here, I merely sent all of the data that constitutes our beings as a reply to the last message you sent me. If your security has such holes, can you really trust your ability to force us to abandon the Digital World? I want answers, and I want them now."

Everyone in the room was shocked by Izzy's outburst. While he had always hated being in the dark, he usually had a great deal of respect for Gennai as a source of information. Looking at him now, he seemed to be channeling the personality of Tai, Davis, or Yolei with his quick temper. Gennai was so taken aback that he actually fell into a shocked silence for a few seconds before hanging his head and beginning to tell the story of what had happened.

"Very well. I suppose this all started a few months ago. The Sovereigns started to notice that phase warps between the Digital World and the Dark Ocean were appearing with unusual frequency. This normally wouldn't be too much of a problem, since the warps do not last long and nothing comes in or out unless they are in the precise location of the rift when it opens. However, something went wrong when various Dark Digimon started using the warps to enter the Digital World. I'm not exactly sure how they ended up in the Dark Ocean in the first place, but they seemed to use it as a way around both the Wall of Fire that usually keeps them in the Dark Area and the protection offered by Oikawa. In order to combat this new threat we reformatted Oikawa's essence into a Digital Guardian like me instead of a general barrier. After all, he has extensive experience with interdimensional travel, and using his knowledge we were able to use the crests to form a dimensional barrier in an effort to halt further intrusions. However, this only seemed to make the problem worse, as extremely powerful Ultimate and Mega Digimon began coming through the rifts instead of the Champion and weaker Ultimates that came before them. Further analysis showed that whatever was causing the rifts was actually drawing on the power of the Crest of Hope and the Crest of Light in order to create a gateway between the worlds ever since we put the barrier up. Seeing our mistake, we relocated the crests to this sanctuary and used another program to create a barrier between our world and your world. We knew there would be nothing we could do to stop the threat to the Digital World from growing out of control if whatever evil is creating the gates managed to obtain the powers of Hope and Light. So, it was imperative that TK and Kari stay in the real world. Even though they no longer hold those crests, they still carry the traits within themselves and have traces of the powers they provided. After all, it was using those powers that allowed Kari and TK to open a portal between the Dark Ocean and Earth for TK to rescue her after she was kidnapped and again when they opened a gate to the Digital World to both escape. As such, it was vital that TK and Kari stay out of the Digital World. Unfortunately, we knew they would never agree to stay behind and safe while their friends were fighting to save the world, so we had to keep you all ignorant of the situation. Not even your Digimon were made aware."

Almost all of the DigiDestined seemed overwhelmed by this rush of information. Apparently, while they had been worrying about things as trivial as schoolwork, the Digital World had been facing a major crisis. Add this to the fact that the Dark Ocean was once again striking out at other worlds, and TK, Kari, Yolei, and Ken were even more on edge, since they all vividly remembered their nightmares from a few nights ago. All of this on top of everyone's thoughts about the revelation that TK and Kari retained some of the powers of their crests, and a somber mood fell over the group. However, Izzy refused to fall into silent brooding, as there were still a few questions he needed answered.

"Okay, I'm sorry for snapping at you like I did earlier. I understand now why you and Piximon were so desperate to get us to leave, but I still think there were better ways to go about it. However, your story raises a few more questions. First, what exactly are the Sovereigns doing about this problem? As I recall, you told us that giving up our crests after our first adventure would release them and allow them to take over the role of ensuring peace for the world. Between this and what happened when Ken was the Digimon Emperor, I'm starting to wonder if that was the right decision. The only times they have helped us was when Azulongmon stopped BlackWarGreymon and when he gave you a DigiCore so we could all evolve past the champion level again. Even that last example doesn't really count anymore, since Agumon and Gabumon didn't have enough energy to reach Mega earlier, so we must all be running out of power. Second, if you have sealed off any and all transportation between the worlds, how were you planning on sending us all back? It seems like a logical fallacy that you would believe it is impossible to travel between the worlds yet can force us to go to Earth from the Digital World."

"I already told you that when we were using the crests as a barrier, powerful Ultimate and Mega level Digimon were coming through the rifts from the Dark Ocean," Gennai responded. "Ever since that happened, the Sovereigns and their personal bodyguards the Devas have been hard at work trying to control the damage and take out the infiltrators. As such, they have been forced to travel all over the world and fight difficult foes. If they weren't fighting, we would have been overrun long ago. As for the transportation, Oikawa devised a way to re-open the portal between the gate at Highton View Terrace and the gate found at this sanctuary that Myotismon used to get to your world. In a controlled setting, there is no risk of an opening being used by the evil Digimon to get to Earth. As for your DigiCore issue, you honestly didn't expect Azulongmon to continually restore your energy levels, did you? He may be a Sovereign, but he doesn't have an infinite source of energy. Besides, Tai and Matt have used the most energy since using Omnimon to fight Diaboromon and Armageddemon required them both to Digivolve to Mega and then DNA Digivolve, which would be much more draining then simply going to Ultimate. Everyone else's energy levels should be fine."

Izzy replied, "That does seem logical. However, if you aren't using the crests for anything right now, wouldn't it make more sense for you to send them to Earth with us? If TK and Kari have enough residual power to shatter the dimensional boundary between the Dark Ocean and the Digital World but would be safe on Earth, why not send the crests to where they will also be out of reach?"

Gennai became thoughtful and slowly answered, "Well, we never believed we would have you here to take the crests back in the first place. It would be the safest for you to bring them out of the Digital World. I shall go release them at once, but due to the nature of the security program we have guarding them, I will be unable to get them to you for some time. Can I trust you to stay hidden here until such time as you have all the crests again?"

"Of course," Izzy promised, "we'll do all we can to ensure we stay safe." Satisfied with this answer, Gennai left to retrieve the crests. As soon as he was gone, Mimi was the first to speak. "Are we allowed to talk now? I feel like Izzy was taking over for all of us ever since we got here."

Seeing that all of his friends had felt marginalized by him taking over the conversation with Gennai, Izzy was quick to apologize. "I'm sorry I wasn't letting you get a word in edgewise, but my curiosity got the best of me after hearing his story. Also, I hope you don't mind my promising we'd stay safe. I needed Gennai to leave before I could voice my real opinion. I think not having us help save the world is a huge mistake. We have to be especially careful that TK and Kari don't get captured, but we can still do that while helping out. So, I was thinking we could go out and help fight whatever is causing this. What do all of you think?"

TK and Kari were just about to protest that they weren't helpless and didn't need the extra protection, but their brothers quickly voiced their full agreement with Izzy's plan to help out while looking after TK and Kari. As all of their friends agreed, they could only hang their heads in defeat and prepare themselves for being guarded right up to the moment they returned to the real world. Somehow, this vacation just wasn't turning out to be as great as they had hoped it would be. However, since it was for the good of the Digital World, they decided to accept it and continued to listen to Izzy as he made more plans.

"I also had one more idea. Since the threat we are currently facing is bad enough to keep the Sovereigns busy, I'm thinking we might need some Megas on our side. We already have Imperialdramon, but I think we should all transfer of the energy we all have from the DigiCore to Tai and Matt so we can access WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon again. I don't know how much we have to spare, but I'd be willing to temporarily lose access to MegaKabuterimon for the extra firepower the Megas will provide."

All of the original eight DigiDestined nodded their heads, and Izzy got to work transferring the power from all of their Digivices to Tai's and Matt's. After the transfers were complete, everyone had enough energy to reach their highest form two more times with the exception of TK and Kari, who had donated all of theirs. After all, they could both reach Ultimate through DNA Digivolution, so reaching Ultimate on their own wasn't as important as it was for the others. With the transfers done, the DigiDestined then left the room and entered the courtyard of the sanctuary, prepared to use the excuse that they were still technically in the sanctuary if they came across any other guardians. However, the sanctuary appeared to be deserted, so they didn't need to worry about anybody stopping them. Or at least, that's what they all believed when a recently familiar voice called out from above them.

"Did you really think you could escape me? I swore to make you suffer, and that is exactly what I will do!"

* * *

Mimi could only groan inwardly at Mephistomon's latest appearance. Why was their always some evil Digimon that wanted to make their lives miserable? She had gotten over the whole 'I want to be a normal kid without having a responsibility to save the world' phase a long time ago, but was it too much to ask for some time to hang out with the other DigiDestined that didn't involve stopping a threat? Ever since she had moved to America, she hadn't been able to see everyone face to face for more than two weeks at a time. So, why did the forces of evil have to attack during the one week where everyone could be together? Mimi could only hope this problem would be over relatively quickly and resolved to do whatever she could to help make that hope become a reality.

As he always did during these situations, Tai immediately took charge. "Everyone, Digivolve, but unless it is through DNA Digivolving, you should all stop at Champion. He isn't the biggest threat, and we might need to save our two times going to Ultimate or Mega if something much worse shows up before we get the Crests back. Since Mephistomon obviously got past Gennai's security, I'm willing to guess that getting the Crests back will take a bit longer than a couple of minutes."

Everybody nodded, and in massive show of lights all the Digimon Digivolved to their Champion forms, with the newer group DNA Digivolving once again. Izzy had used the time to look up Mephistomon on his Digimon Analyzer, and immediately reported his findings.

"Okay, I know what exactly happened the last time we fought him. That black explosion was his Dark Cloud attack. It releases a pulse of dark energy that works by draining the energy of its victims. That's why all the Ultimates reverted to rookie last time. It's the same thing Apocalymon did to us at the start of our battle, just on a smaller scale. As long as the three DNA Ultimates can avoid that, they should be able to defeat him."

Shakkoumon, Paildramon, and Silphymon all nodded and flew into the fight. Armed with more information on the opponent's abilities, they decided to take a different approach to this conflict, and instead of all rushing in at once developed a rotation where one would engage at close range while the other two provided longer range support. With this new strategy, they kept Mephistomon boxed in, preventing him from making a move on the humans and Champions gathered below while at the same time ensuring only one of them could be hit by the Dark Cloud attack if he chose to release it. However, this strategy did have the drawback of putting them all in a situation where it was practically a one on one fight, and Mephistomon was proving to be a skilled opponent. Using the same pink beam attack he had used earlier, he was keeping Silphymon from causing any damage as the DNA Digimon was continually dodging or countering the attacks with its own and thus didn't get any opening to strike back. Seeing their friend in trouble, Paildramon and Shakkoumon both flew in to the rescue, but in doing so fell right into Mephistomon's trap as he triumphantly bellowed "Dark Cloud!" However, as Mephistomon was launching the attack, Shakkoumon managed to throw Paildramon out of range meaning only Shakkoumon and Silphymon were hit. Seeing Gatomon and Ankylomon falling from the ball of darkness, Paildramon Mega Digivolved to Imperialdramon in order to fly down and catch them. However, such a maneuver proved unnecessary, as Aquilamon and Angemon soon flew after the two flightless Champions, and after Ankylomon reverted to Armadillomon they managed to catch their falling friends and make it to within a few feet of the ground before reverting to Rookie and landing safely. Imperialdramon returned his attention to his opponent, but the moment of distraction proved to be all that had been needed for Mephistomon to hide within the darkness his last attack had generated. Since Imperialdramon couldn't enter the darkness himself without reverting and was too powerful to randomly blast it without destroying something on the other side, he quickly flew down to protect his Rookie friends and waited for Mephistomon's next move. Suddenly, the black ball was suddenly replaced with a glowing purple light, and Izzy's panicked voice called out, "Look out, he's Digivolving! Tai, Matt, you better Warp Digivolve right now!" Since Tai and Matt had been preparing to do exactly that as soon as the cloud started glowing, WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon quickly joined Imperialdramon floating over the heads of the DigiDestined as Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Patamon, and Gatomon all rejoined their partners. The other DigiDestined prepared to Digivolve as well, but before they could begin, a deep voice called "Black Requiem!" and the entire area became covered in a black fog. While the fog itself cleared away quickly, it seemed to leave behind a residual darkness that made it look like someone had drained all the colors from everything. Suddenly, all the DigiDestined heard a deep laughing as the fog revealed the new form their enemy had taken. This creature had two horns curving from the side of its reptilian head in contrast to Mephistomon's goat-like face. Its body bore a strong resemblance to VenomMyotismon, except with grey skin, black wings, and four legs. This demonic centaur even had the second mouth on its lower torso to match VenomMyotismon's second face. It was this mouth that had spewed out the black fog that blanketed the area, and now that the attack had finished, the mouth was slowly closing. Seeing this new foe, all the DigiDestined tried Digivolving to Ultimate, but found themselves unable to do so. A quick scan of the opponent immediately told Izzy the cause.

"This is not good. He Digivolved to Gulfmon, a Mega level Demon Beast Digimon. Any opponent that gets ingested by his second mouth has its DigiCore crushed, meaning they will be permanently deleted instead of reborn in the Primary Village. His Black Requiem attack releases the power of the Dark Area into the battlefield. That's why none of us can Digivolve. He's basically a giant control spire now. We have to take him out or find a way to get rid of this darkness before any of us will be able to do more than attack him in whatever forms we are in now."

However, Kabuterimon was quick to reassure his worried partner. "It's not that big of a problem. We've managed to survive without going to Ultimate before. Besides, nobody is reverting right now. We still have three Megas and five Champions to fight him. Admittedly, those of us who are Champions probably won't do much good against a Mega, but we're better than nothing."

If this wasn't enough to reassure Izzy, the four voices around him shouting "Digi-Armor Energize!" and corresponding appearance of Halsemon, Digmon, Nefertimon, and Pegasusmon added four more confident members to their arsenal. Yolei even put her hand on Izzy's shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. When we fought the corrupted Cherubimon in America, our Armor forms managed to hold their own for a while. Sure, we needed Veemon and Terriermon to Golden Armor Digivolve in order to finally win, but we have three Megas to deal the final blow this time. We can handle this."

As if to prove her point, MetalGarurumon launched his Grace Cross Freezer attack and pummeled Gulfmon with hundreds of missiles that froze him solid. Imperialdramon and WarGreymon followed this up by launching a simultaneous Terra Force and Positron Laser. However, as the attacks raced towards Gulfmon, he unleashed a massive scream that shattered all of the ice and sent it flying towards the incoming attacks. The blast of ice and sonic wave canceled out the two attacks, leaving Gulfmon to laugh as all of the DigiDestined and their partner Digimon tried covering their ears in a futile attempt to diminish the anguish caused by Gulfmon's Dead Scream attack. Cancelling out the two attacks had robbed the scream of power to the point where it was no longer fatal, but it was still strong enough to physically knock back the three Mega Digimon and drive all the humans to their knees in pain. He began to charge another Dead Scream, but before he could launch his attack, a female voice cried out "Nazar Nail!" and Gulfmon's scream died out to a pathetic whimper as he started to come apart in spare bits of data. The cause of this appeared to be a humanoid figure standing on his shoulder.

Keeping her hand lodged in Gulfmon's shoulder, this new arrival ignored her victim's obvious pain and started lecturing him in a seductive tone. "Well, looks like someone's been a naughty boy. I would have thought we had made a perfect example out of Dragomon for what happens when someone puts their personal gain ahead of the success of the plan. But, since you had to go be all macho about it and try to destroy the DigiDestined by yourself, someone just had to punish you. But hey, it isn't all bad. You'll get to spend the rest of eternity as spare bits of data inside me that I can just pull out whenever I want to. Now be a good boy and die, would you?"

With that, Gulfmon fully dissipated, and the DigiDestined were left wondering what exactly they had gotten themselves into.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, looks like I got this uploaded right away. Won't be able to upload anything else for a few hours, but I feel like this is a better stopping point than the end of the first chapter. I also apologize for the lack of line breaks in the last chapter- I didn't see that they hadn't transferred over from where I wrote the story to here. Hopefully I caught all the ones I needed to add back in this time around. As always, feel free to review or message me with any questions or comments!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. That probably will never change.

* * *

Davis had absolutely no idea what to make of the situation he saw before him. One second he had a giant demonic centaur screaming at him with enough force to make him collapse in pain and the next he was watching as a very attractive female creature effortlessly slaughter his previous enemy. Now, Davis was well aware of his faults: he tended to be immature, wasn't the best at thinking things through, and often said things he would regret later. However, he prided himself on his leadership skills and ability to always know the right thing to do, and it were these attributes that prevented him from being too attracted to the monster before him. Sure, she had certain traits that made her extremely attractive, but everything from the way she dressed to the way she talked to her casual slaughter of someone who was working on her side showed she was nothing but bad news. Since she was clearly evil and was strong enough to kill Gulfmon in one hit, she could be a major threat to his friends, so Davis locked away any immature thoughts and started calmly assessing their options in a fight. They still had Imperialdramon, WarGreymon, and MetalGarurumon, who had all recovered from Gulfmon's attack and were waiting to act against this new threat. Behind them, Halsemon, Digmon, Pegasusmon, and Nefertimon were all slowly getting to their feet and looked a little disoriented, but they seemed to be recovering. The other DigiDestined, however, looked as though they would need a while before enjoying a full recovery. They all were slowly getting up, but looked as if they would have a nice collection of bruises by tomorrow morning. TK and Kari seemed to have fared the worst out of everyone, as each of them had a slow trickle of blood coming out of their ears. All in all, they were each shaken up, but every one of them would be able to keep fighting. Of course, as they had learned from their fights with Gulfmon and Mephistomon, rushing into the fight wouldn't do any good. They needed to get some information about their opponent if they wanted to win. Seeing as he was the first to recover, Davis took charge and asked Izzy to analyze their newest adversary. Izzy at first seemed a little dazed as he stared at the new arrival, but when Davis tried to take his laptop to pull up the Digimon Analyzer himself, Izzy quickly snapped out of it and pulled up her profile.

"This is very, very bad. That Digimon is named Lilithmon. She is known as the Goddess of Darkness, and is one of the Seven Great Demon Lords. She can instantly dissolve a target with her Nazar Nail attack, and as the Demon Lord of Lust, she is a master of manipulation."

"Why is there even a Digimon that represents lust?" Sora asked as she finally got to her feet. "I mean, Digimon don't really reproduce, they just reincarnate as eggs. You'd think there wouldn't be any reason for that kind of feeling in the Digital World."

"Well, this is only a theory, but it is possible they aren't referring to lust in the typical human sense." Izzy answered. "After all, many Digimon have a lust for power. Plus, Digimon are just as emotionally complex as people. Even if it isn't sexual, they can still love, with all the jealousy and possessiveness that help constitute lust."

"Your friend has a good head on his shoulders. I like that in a man," Lilithmon addressed the DigiDestined. "As he says, I can manipulate people who covet power just as much as those with more, shall we say, primal needs. As for how exactly a Digimon of Lust can come into being, are you really surprised? The Digital World is linked to the computer networks that exist on Earth. Any data that is uploaded on Earth has a chance of showing up here. Have you seen what humans put on the Internet? Even I find it tasteless. Still, judging by the looks on most of your faces, I can make a good use of it to distract any human male who tries to fight me."

Davis was quick to respond. "You may look pretty, but you're obviously rotten on the inside! We may not be able to stop ourselves from getting a little distracted—" (Ken, Matt, and Michael looked guiltily at their girlfriends, while Cody, Joe and Tai shook their heads as if to shake off any distracting thoughts. Sora, Yolei and Mimi shot glares at their boyfriends, but quickly softened their expressions when they realized it really wasn't their fault. TK and Kari merely looked confused as to why they weren't hearing any words coming out of their friend's mouths) "—but we can still beat you. No matter how powerful you are, we outnumber you twelve to one. We're not going to lose to someone like you!"

"Well, aren't you a little hothead. Still, what matters isn't the size of your army, but how well it works. Then again," Lilithmon smiled evilly, "sometimes bigger truly is better."

As she said this, a large group of evil Digimon suddenly flickered into existence behind her. It mostly consisted of Vilemon and Bakemon, but there were a few frighteningly familiar faces in SkullSatamon, MarineDevimon, and LadyDevimon who were all right beneath Lilithmon. Despite the dramatic appearance, Lilithmon suddenly seemed disappointed, and grumbled at the three Digimon last seen as members of the Daemon Corps. "I see that bearded fool was too greedy to even share some of his followers for this mission. Remind me to get in some private time with Barbamon so I can show him exactly what I think of him."

"Lady Lilithmon, you know you won't be able to destroy Barbamon. He is essential to the plan. Destroying him would result in Lord Daemon having to do the same thing to you that he did to Dragomon."

"Oh fine, LadyDevimon. I promise to leave him alive. Not that it wouldn't be _interesting_ to see exactly how well Daemon handles his new skills. Now, since we are here and Gulfmon is no longer threatening to kill the DigiDestined, why don't we proceed with the plan? They have three Mega levels, five champions, and four Armor forms. So, do you think you can handle the Megas yourselves, or will I have to risk getting dirty in this fight?"

SkullSatamon chuckled. "Well, I'm not sure about the others, but I want a shot at Imperialdramon. He and I have a little unfinished business. We'll see how tough he is now that he won't have eight Ultimates giving him their power!"

Not to be outdone, LadyDevimon let out an evil giggle and threw in her own opinion. "It's just too bad Angewomon isn't here. I really want to show that blondie how our fight would've ended without that meddling insect."

Lilithmon merely glanced at her and responded, "Well, if you really want to, that Nefertimon is the same Digimon who usually fights you as Angewomon, but I really don't think we can have you waste time going after someone of such a low level. Also, I can't say I understand why you have such a grudge against her. Sure, she beat you that one time, but you weren't really being serious. I know what happened during that fight. Most humans would probably have a field day with how the two of you behaved. Personally, I'd be more embarrassed about your fight with her as Silphymon. Sure, both cases ended with you being destroyed, but it's not like MegaKabuterimon hit you with a skateboard…"

LadyDevimon snapped at this last comment. "SHUT UP! I don't care if you are Lord Daemon's favorite. I will not allow you to talk to me in that way. I'll take out WarGreymon then. At least I can hurt Angewomon's partner by hurting her brother's Digimon!" With that, she quickly flew after WarGreymon, signaling the start of the battle. As the swarm of Vilemon and Bakemon began to rush towards the DigiDestined only to be engaged by the Champion and Armor forms, SkullSatamon grinned before disappearing from view as he jumped towards Imperialdramon faster than most eyes could follow. MarineDevimon merely smirked before spurting out black ink and slithering towards MetalGarurumon at a surprising speed for a sea creature stuck on land. Lilithmon only grinned at this. Why should she dirty her own hands when she could so easily manipulate Daemon's flunkies to do it for her? All she had to do now was sit back and enjoy the show.

* * *

Even though he was the most experienced among all the DigiDestined, TK had to admit he had never quite experienced a battle like this before. He hadn't been able to hear anything ever since Gulfmon had launched his scream attack. As such, he didn't hear any of the usual pre-fight routine, with trash talk, a quick reference to the Digimon Analyzer, and some more banter before any attacks were exchanged. He had no idea who the Digimon that had destroyed Gulfmon was, but even though she had helped them by defeating that foe, she was obviously now threatening them by calling on the Daemon Corps as well as an army of Vilemon and Bakemon. TK supposed she could have been considered beautiful, but he had more important things to worry about at the moment. It would be hard to communicate with the others if he couldn't hear their responses, so he would have to make sure he was especially careful in the fight ahead. Also, Kari seemed to be having a hard time standing, so he took his eyes away from the opposing army and took the time to help her to her feet. She had to lean on his shoulder for support, and TK was shocked to see she was bleeding from her ears. Without thinking, he quickly asked "Are you alright?" but she could only look at him confused and say something back to him that he obviously didn't hear. However, just from the look on her face, it seemed she hadn't heard his question either, so she must have also experienced some form of hearing loss. Seeing as they were both dealing with a disadvantage in this battle, they came to a silent agreement to stick together to avoid getting hurt.

By the time they were both ready to turn their attention back towards the enemy, they saw that the battle was already underway. The Vilemon and Bakemon had charged straight for all the DigiDestined, but were stopped by the gathered Champion and Armor forms of the partner Digimon. Seadramon was proving exceptionally helpful, with his Ice Blast attack immobilizing small groups of enemies each time he launched it. Kabuterimon and Birdramon were able to take out the enemies in one hit of their main attacks, but the vast swarm of opponents meant the destruction of a single enemy had a negligible effect. Pegasusmon and Nefertimon were using their Golden Noose technique to round up five or six enemies at a time and keep them still so Ikkakumon could hit them with his Harpoon Torpedo. Togemon and Digmon were opting to stay close to the DigiDestined, since neither of them was the most effective in this type of fight. Togemon's Needle Spray had a wide attack range, but it lacked the stopping power to keep the opponents back for long, so she was sticking back and using her Light Speed Jabbing to protect her human friends. Likewise, Digmon's Rock Cracking attack was useless against opponents who could all fly or float, and his Gold Rush attack had a significantly longer recharge time that would leave him open to attack. As such, he was trying to fight in melee combat and only using his Gold Rush attack whenever enemies got too close to the humans. Seeing Digmon and Togemon start to get overwhelmed, Halsemon bought his friends some space with his Tempest Wing attack. Before the enemies closed the distance again, he reverted to Hawkmon before Armor Digivolving to Shurimon, whose arsenal was better equipped to defend the DigiDestined.

Looking beyond the smaller battles, TK saw their three Mega Digimon facing off with what appeared to be a revived Daemon Corps. MarineDevimon had used his tentacles to catch MetalGarurumon and was spewing some form of sludge from his mouth at his captive. However, the metallic wolf countered with his Ice Wolf Claw, and the frigid breath froze not only the sludge, but the octopus-like Digimon as well. MetalGarurumon then broke free from the tentacles holding him and finished off his opponent with his Garuru Tomahawk attack before joining WarGreymon in his fight against LadyDevimon. Even though LadyDevimon was only an Ultimate, she had managed to hit WarGreymon with a burst of dark energy that seemed to drain him of much of his power, giving her the upper hand. She was charging in to finish him off with her Black Wing attack, but MetalGarurumon bit the spear off before it could connect. She fell back a little bit and tried to use her Evil Wing attack, but MetalGarurumon countered with his Grace Cross Freezer and the icy missiles destroyed all of the bats she had released. She snarled in anger, but that quickly changed to shock as she saw a giant fireball approaching her. WarGreymon had used the clashing attacks as a distraction to launch his Terra Force attack, which connected and destroyed the Fallen Angel Digimon. TK next looked over towards where Imperialdramon and SkullSatamon had been fighting, but the results there were not as positive as they had been in the other two fights. Numerous craters surrounded Imperialdramon, indicating he had repeatedly fired his Positron Laser attack, but SkullSatamon was continuing to jump around him, dodging all of his attacks and repeatedly striking with his Skull Hammer attack. Appearing to get sick of constantly missing, Imperialdramon unleashed a new attack where he surrounded himself with a whirling ball of fire that then expanded outward, but SkullSatamon disappeared before the attack could connect.

Unsure of where the Undead Digimon had gone, TK turned his attention back to the battle against the Vilemon and Bakemon. A noticeable portion of the army had either been destroyed or frozen in ice, but a significant number still remained. He saw Pegasusmon and Nefertimon start to tie up another group of Vilemon, but they suddenly were blasted into the ground. SkullSatamon had appeared right where they were flying and hit them both with his Skull Hammer! The force of the impact caused them to lose their Armor forms, and balls of pink and yellow light began flying back towards TK and Kari as their Digimentals started to return to them. No longer caring about the fact that he was deaf and currently facing a sizable force of evil Digimon, TK started running towards Patamon, barely noticing that Kari was running right beside him. He didn't even care that SkullSatamon launched his Nail Bone attack at the Digimentals, hitting them and freezing them on their way back. He was actually glad when SkullSatamon grabbed the two frozen Digimentals and vanished again, as this meant he wouldn't continue to attack his partner. TK would gladly give up the ability to Armor Digivolve if it meant he wouldn't have to go through Patamon dying again. While he understood that there was no other way for Angemon to save everyone, it didn't change the fact that he still had emotional scars linked to that event.

As soon as he had that thought, TK began to regret ever being able to be happy he had lost his Digimental. In his rush to get to Patamon's side, he had run right through a group of Bakemon. They all launched some form of claw attack at him, but he managed to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. However, the attack served to separate him from Kari, and as Kari stumbled and fell the Bakemon grabbed her and started to carry her away. Not knowing what else to do, TK started running after them, all the while screaming "NO! KARI! Patamon, you have to Digivolve and help her! You have to!"

TK didn't know why he thought Patamon could help. He had lost the Digimental of Hope, so Patamon couldn't Armor Digivolve. The effects of Gulfmon's Black Requiem attack remained in effect, so it was impossible to Digivolve to Angemon. Still, none of this changed the fact that Kari was in the process of being kidnapped by a horde of evil Digimon. Last time, he hadn't let something as trivial as an inter-dimensional barrier stop him from saving her, and he was just as desperate to help her now. As if in response to his desperation, he noticed a sudden glow from where Patamon and Gatomon had landed after being hit by SkullSatamon. But the joy he felt was replaced by confusion as the usual white light of Digivolution was replaced with a deep purple glow. Suddenly, a tall black figure rose from the clearing. TK recognized the form as the Digimon who occasionally haunted his nightmares and the very same Digimon that had first taken Patamon from him: Devimon. The Fallen Angel Digimon flew straight towards the Bakemon holding Kari with its claws outstretched. TK began to scream "No!" but was surprised when Devimon slashed apart all the Bakemon before catching Kari and flying straight towards him. Devimon set Kari on the ground next to TK, causing the teen to simply ask, "Patamon?"

The Digimon tried to respond verbally, but seeing when TK didn't appear to understand, he simply nodded before flying off to continue fighting the opponents. When the initial shock cleared, TK immediately realized what he had done: he had triggered a Dark Digivolution. This meant that he had directly caused his partner to be consumed by darkness. It had only ever happened before with Greymon, but from both of SkullGreymon's appearances he knew a Digimon that underwent Dark Digivolution lost control of itself and would only rampage. What if Patamon also couldn't control himself as Devimon and got destroyed in this battle? He could be destroyed all over again, but this time TK knew it would only be his fault. He was dimly aware of a hand being placed on his shoulder, but not even Kari's presence was enough to save him from his fear of having lost his partner again through his own choice. TK began to hyperventilate and eventually blacked out. Kari could only watch helplessly as her best friend collapsed into her arms.

* * *

From Tai's point of view, the battle had been going better than could be expected. Sure, LadyDevimon had managed to hit WarGreymon with her Darkness Wave attack which seemed to turn his own power against him, but the timely arrival of MetalGarurumon had eliminated that problem. Imperialdramon was also struggling against SkullSatamon, but they had eliminated two thirds of the Daemon Corps and much of the Bakemon and Vilemon army without anybody so much as reverting to a lower form. However, his confidence in victory quickly turned to dread when he heard TK scream Kari's name. Quickly turning his head, Tai saw his sister being carried off by a group of Bakemon and immediately sent WarGreymon after her. However, the effects of LadyDevimon's attack must have been worse than Tai had originally thought, since WarGreymon only made it a few yards before reverting to Agumon. Tai was suddenly torn between going to help his sister or his partner, but quickly decided to rush to Agumon's side. After all, Kari had TK with her and presumably Pegasusmon and Nefertimon while Agumon was alone. By the time he got to his partner's side, Agumon had reverted again to Koromon, but now that he was in the In-Training stage he seemed to be doing much better and convinced Tai he would be okay. Satisfied that his partner was okay, Tai turned back toward his sister to see her being carried by a Devimon instead of a swarm of Bakemon. Wondering where exactly this Devimon had come from and how he was going to save Kari, he was shocked to see Devimon gently lower Kari to the ground next to TK, talk for a little bit, and then fly off in order to fight more Bakemon. Deciding asking why any of this was happening could wait until after he was sure his sister was okay, Tai ran up to her only to see her crying over TK, who appeared to be unconscious. He was about to ask if she was okay, but before he could form the words he heard Gatomon's voice addressing him.

"I keep asking Kari if she's okay, but she doesn't seem—Lightning Paw!—to hear me. I can't take the—Cat's Eye Hypnotism!—time to actually get close to her—Lightning Paw!—since every time I try to get close I have to—Lightning Paw!—fend off more of these losers!"

Seeing as Gatomon was busy using her claws and hypnotism abilities to hold off any Vilemon and Bakemon that came towards Kari, Tai decided not to press her for any more details and put his hand on Kari's shoulder to get her attention. She jumped at the sudden contact, but at the sight of her brother's face she calmed down enough to immediately start retelling the situation as rapidly as she possibly could. "Tai! Something's wrong with TK! Pegasusmon and Nefertimon were working together to tie up the enemies and then SkullSatamon attacked them and they reverted and then we were running to get Patamon and Gatomon but SkullSatamon stopped attacking them to steal our Digimentals as they came back to us and then we got attacked by some Bakemon and then I was being carried away and then…"

"Kari, calm down!" Tai interrupted, seeing as his sister hadn't breathed since she started talking. However, Kari seemed to ignore him and continued with her account even as he spoke.

"…a Devimon suddenly appeared and destroyed the Bakemon and then he carried me back to where TK was and then they talked for a little bit but I couldn't hear what they said because I haven't been able to hear anything since Gulfmon attacked and then Devimon nodded and flew off and then TK just passed out! We've got to help him!"

Seeing as his sister was clearly not going to focus on her own wellbeing until TK got looked at, Tai realized the only thing to do was to call Joe over. He may not be a doctor, but he was the closest thing they had at the moment. Realizing that shouting wasn't the best way to communicate over the battlefield, Tai pulled out his D-Terminal and started composing a message. However, he got about three words in before he got bowled over as MetalGarurumon flew in to bring Matt to his brother's side. MetalGarurumon had taken to helping thin the crowds of Bakemon and Vilemon after LadyDevimon's defeat when Matt happened to see what had happened to his younger brother. Once Matt had seen that, he hopped on MetalGarurumon and the two proceeded to blast their way straight to TK's side.

"TK! Are you alright?" When his brother failed to respond, Matt turned to Tai and Kari and demanded, "What happened here?"

Being a concerned older brother himself, Tai understood where Matt was coming from, but didn't appreciate him shouting at his sister. "I'm not sure. All I know is TK is unconscious and Kari might be in shock, so how about you put all that energy you're using to interrogate Kari into something useful, like getting Joe over here ASAP!"

Realizing Tai was right, Matt decided to channel his panicked energy into something productive and hopped back on MetalGarurumon. The pair then flew off to where they saw Joe and Ikkakumon facing off against twenty Vilemon. Joe looked worried about how he would come out of this battle, when all of the enemies were suddenly hit with MetalGarurumon's missiles and frozen before they all dissolved into data. Joe turned to thank Matt, but before he could utter a syllable he was bodily hoisted onto MetalGarurumon and rocketing towards TK, Tai, and Kari. Seeing the state of TK and Kari, Joe immediately started giving them a quick field examination while asking exactly what had happened. Tai and Matt didn't really know the answer to his questions, but MetalGarurumon's arrival finally bought Gatomon the space she needed to get to her partner's side and start explaining everything.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure where I should start, but here goes. Patamon and I had Armor Digivolved and were using our Golden Noose to tie up enemies to make them easier to take out. It was going well, until SkullSatamon showed up from out of nowhere and took us both out with a single attack. That caused us to lose our Armor forms, but for some reason he stopped attacking us and attacked the Digimentals as they were flying back to TK and Kari. He grabbed them and then disappeared, while Patamon and I were stuck in the middle of a big group of Vilemon. We put up a pretty good fight, but we couldn't get away. Suddenly, TK started screaming for Patamon to Digivolve to save Kari, and he somehow managed to do it. Of course, he became a Devimon instead of an Angemon, but he managed to get to Kari before I did, save her from the Bakemon that had grabbed her, and brought her to TK's side. I'm not sure what exactly happened then, but he flew off a bit later and when I got there, TK had passed out and Kari was crying."

As she finished this story, Patamon himself flew into their group and landed next to TK. When he saw his partner unconscious, he immediately asked what was going on. Unfortunately, nobody knew the whole story yet, so they couldn't answer. In order to try and figure everything out, they asked Patamon what had happened between him Dark Digivolving and flying away from TK. Patamon quickly began explaining.

"Well, I heard TK screaming that he needed me to Digivolve to help Kari, but I wasn't really sure how. I mean, it was just like being by a control spire where that wouldn't work. Suddenly, though, I felt this massive amount of energy flowing into me, kind of like the first time I drew on the Crest of Hope to reach Ultimate. So, I Digivolved, but it must have been dark energy I absorbed since I became Devimon. That wasn't exactly the most pleasant feeling ever, seeing as I sort of killed myself the last time I saw one and now I was one, and I was feeling a disturbing need to hurt something, but since Kari needed me I flew and rescued her. I brought her back to TK, but he seemed really scared to see me. I tried explaining myself, but he must not have heard me. Eventually he asked if it was me, and I nodded. Then, I guess I got a bit overwhelmed by the darkness for a bit. I felt like I had to go fight something, so I flew off."

Hearing all of this, Joe could finally make his diagnosis. "Okay, I think I know what happened here. TK and Kari were both surrounded by Bakemon and Vilemon after seeing their partners get hurt. Then, Kari gets kidnapped and TK desperately tries to save her. When her guardian angel turns out to be more of a devil (no offence, Patamon), it probably comes as a huge shock to her. Given TK's history with Devimon, it was probably much worse for him, especially since he realized he caused his partner to become that. He probably goes into a state of shock, hyperventilates, and passes out. Seeing all of this happen on top of what had already happened to her, Kari also starts going into shock. The fact that neither of them seem to be responding to people talking to them probably indicates some form of hearing damage due to Gulfmon's Dead Scream. We need to get these two away from here, at the very least into the sanctuary and at best to Earth. A battlefield is the worst place for them right now, and it would be best if they got looked at by someone who isn't a med student who just finished a major battle."

Now having an idea on how to help his sister, Tai immediately called for all the DigiDestined to fall back to the sanctuary. After finishing off the last of the Vilemon and Bakemon, all thirteen of them returned to the inside of Gennai's base, weary from battle and worried over the state of the two most experienced DigiDestined.

* * *

When Gennai returned with the eight Crests, he was surprised to find all the DigiDestined looking broken and beaten, especially TK and Kari. Tai was the first to notice his return, and greeted their old ally by immediately yelling at him.

"What took you so long? And where exactly was your security? We got attacked by a swarm of Bakemon and Vilemon in addition to the Daemon Corps, a Gulfmon, and a Demon Lord! We had to deal with all of this ourselves, and TK and Kari have both passed out because of it!"

"What?! How did they find us here? This sanctuary works similarly to the hollow trees you hid in when you first came to the Digital World. From the outside, this should only appear as an abandoned ruin. We thought the best way to hide the Crests would be to keep them secret instead of putting them under heavy guard and thus revealing their location. The fact that the Demon Lords could find us is most troubling… still, that doesn't matter right now. Are TK and Kari okay? As the carriers of Hope and Light, we need them to stay safe."

"You make it sound like you only care about them for their Crests and not as actual people," Matt accused. "We need you to open a portal back to Earth. They need to get looked at by a doctor, and though Joe did the best he can do, they need to go to Earth for that to happen."

Gennai did look apologetic for his initial lack of empathy and nodded his head at Matt's demands. "Very well, we shall get right on that. But first, can you tell me exactly how they ended up like this?"

Patamon was the first to answer. "Well, Gatomon and I had Armor Digivolved, but we were attacked by SkullSatamon. We reverted, but TK and Kari came running after us. SkullSatamon did something to the Digimentals and took them away, and-"

Gennai was quick to interrupt. "What? You lost the Digimentals of Hope and Light? This is a catastrophe! The very reason we needed all of you to stay out of the Digital World was to ensure the forces gathering in the Dark Ocean would never obtain the powers of Hope and Light needed to open a full rift in the dimensional barrier. If they can use the Digimentals, the entire world could be overrun with the forces of darkness in a matter of days. You have to get them back!"

Tai suddenly found himself torn between his obligation as an older brother to look after Kari and his obligation as a DigiDestined to save the world. He fought with himself for all of three seconds before he came to a compromise. "Fine, here's the plan. We need to split up. One group has to take TK and Kari back to Earth to get medical help, and the other group needs to chase down SkullSatamon and Lilithmon. The fastest way to travel is in Imperialdramon, so Davis and Ken will be in the second group. They'll need some backup, but judging by how strong SkullSatamon was last time and the fact that Lilithmon took out Gulfmon in one hit, I think we shouldn't send in anyone who can't go beyond Ultimate. That means Matt and I are the only other ones who should go after them. Everyone else should head back and try to recover. Even after we get the Digimentals back, we'll still have to take care of the source of the problem, so we'll need to be at full strength as soon as we can."

All of the DigiDestined that were assigned to the first group seemed upset at the fact that they wouldn't be able to help, but only Izzy voiced an objection. "Tai, I understand where you are coming from with this plan. Just like when you sent TK and Sora away during the fight with LadyDevimon in order for us to be at full strength against Piedmon, you are looking at the big picture here. But you will need my help. We don't know what we are running into, and you might need me to help analyze any situation that may arise. MegaKabuterimon might not be a Mega, but he is really tough. The first time he Digivolved, he blasted his way through a planet in Vademon's dimension. You'll need me out there, and I promise I won't slow you down."

Tai realized he was once again rushing into a situation without thinking it through, so he agreed that Izzy should join him. "Izzy's right. Plus, having him around would probably help the group function. Davis and I are a bit hot-headed at the best of times, and with TK and Kari in trouble, Matt and I aren't exactly thinking things through the clearest. With Izzy and Ken, we should have enough objective thinkers to keep us going. But we really shouldn't have anyone else along. It just increases the risk of someone getting hurt. Now, we'll take our crests, and as soon as Veemon and Wormmon are ready to Digivolve we'll head out. Did anyone see which way Lilithmon and SkullSatamon went?"

Sora was the only one who had an answer. "It's not much help, but I saw them flying off towards the south. Where they went after that I can't say, since Birdramon and I got distracted by some Vilemon, but it's a start. And Matt? You better come back. I just made reservations for our six-year anniversary and I need you to be there in order to enjoy them."

While Mimi and Yolei each let out an "aw" and Davis snorted at Matt's expense, he merely nodded and said "I promise I'll be back." Then, Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Joe, and Mimi all got their Crests back from Gennai, while Yolei and Cody held on to the Crests of Light and Hope for their DNA Digivolving partners. While they all were a bit excited at being able to help their partners go beyond Champion on their own again, the circumstances leading to their return put a bittersweet feeling over the moment. With the Crests returned, the DigiDestined then split up, with Tai, Matt, Izzy, Davis, and Ken heading outside as the others followed Gennai to the gate home. Joe had decided the best course of action would be to take TK and Kari to see his dad, as he was the only full-fledged doctor they knew that knew about the Digital World. Joe really didn't want to try to come up story that would explain all of TK and Kari's injuries without involving something as crazy as an alternate dimension, so Dr. Kido was the only option. Soon after the rest of the DigiDestined had returned home, Veemon and Wormmon once again Digivolved to Imperialdramon, and Tai, Matt, Davis, Ken, and Izzy flew off on the trail of SkullSatamon and Lilithmon.

* * *

In a word, Lilithmon was bored. She was slowly flying south with only SkullSatamon for company, but Daemon's bony underling was not exactly the best conversationalist. He couldn't really keep her interested, but it was vital to the success of the plan that they keep heading south together. Soon, nothing would be able to stop them.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Imperialdramon streaked out of the sky and hit SkullSatamon with his Splendor Blade attack. The Undead Digimon was destroyed before he knew what had hit him. Lilithmon was almost sad to see him go- he may not have been much of a talker, but he was very effective in his actions. It was a shame that good minions were so hard to find and never lasted as long as she would like. However, the sudden appearances of WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, and MegaKabuterimon stopped her musings and forced her to focus on the battle at hand.

"Alright, Lilithmon," the child of Courage-she didn't bother to remember his name- addressed her, "SkullSatamon obviously didn't have the Digimentals, so that just leaves you. Hand them over and we might just let you go."

Lilithmon could only chuckle at this. "You really need to work on your menacing act, kid. I spend my time with the Demon Lords. Compared to them, your threats are so amateur that it sounds like it's your first time trying this. And if you really want me to hand over the Digimentals, you'll have to find them first. Expect to conduct a very thorough search. You'd be surprised how many things you could hide under these robes."

Lilithmon chuckled inwardly at the reactions of most of the DigiDestined to this. It was nice to see that her tactics worked just as well in practice as they had in theory. Human males were so easy to distract- all she had to do was flaunt her looks and speak in a certain tone of voice while using as many innuendos and as much double entendre as she could, and they immediately had a hard time keeping their minds focused on the task at hand. Then again, maybe it wasn't as effective as she had liked- the Knowledge Child didn't seem to be affected at all, and the Children of Kindness, Friendship, and Courage had quickly shaken off the distraction. The only one who it was having an effect on was the goggle brat with the Veemon, but since Imperialdramon was also partnered to the Child of Kindness turning the brat was meaningless.

Lilithmon just sighed. "Well, I must say I'm rather impressed. Judging from most of the data I've come across that the humans have uploaded, I'm impressed at how well you handled yourself. I thought that my little act could make any human's head explode and make them come to my side, but I guess I'll have to fight myself. Phantom Pain."

She sighed out the name of her attack, and a cloud of darkness appeared and surrounded all of the DigiDestined's Digimon. Their partners all panicked as they saw spare bits of data start flying out of the cloud, but Lilithmon suddenly stopped her attack and the rookie forms fell to the ground. "In case you're curious, my Phantom Pain attack can dissipate the data from the tips of the bodies of any of its victims. It's basically a widespread, long-range version of the Nazar Nail I used to blow away Gulfmon. Of course, it's much slower, but it does have the advantage of me being able to stop it whenever I choose. In this case, it was to show you that you are way out of your league, but not finish you off just yet. I find some things are much more enjoyable if you take the time to do them slowly. It wouldn't be fun if all of you were finished off in one attack."

Tai and Matt were not pleased with the fact that this enemy was viewing them as nothing more than toys to play with. She was strong, but she also seemed to be so arrogant that it might provide an opening. She had made one critical mistake, though. Sure, she had reverted all of their Digimon to Rookie, but this wasn't like last time. Without Gulfmon, there wasn't anything stopping them from trying again. Tai began taunting her back. "Yeah, it might not be fun to finish off everybody in one attack, but is it any more fun to have to tango with a bunch of Rookies?" Matt then added "We can't have you getting bored with us, so we'll try spicing it up for you," before both shouted, "Warp Digivolve!"

Lilithmon had to grin at their response, but quickly shot back, "Oh, really? I don't think so. Black Requiem!" and unleashed a massive burst of dark energy that arrested their Digivolving at the Champion stage. "Sorry, but I don't know if I can let you do that. So, I guess you just didn't live up to all that you were saying you could do. Still, I appreciated your comebacks. It's so much more fun when you can share that kind of thing with someone else instead of always doing it alone."

This caused most of the group to shudder, but the Knowledge Child once again bucked the trend and merely looked incredulous. "That doesn't make any sense! Black Requiem isn't one of Lilithmon's attacks; it's supposed to be Gulfmon's! What's going on here?"

Lilithmon only smiled at the curiosity that bordered on a lust for knowledge. She might be able to make use of this one later, but for now all she had to do was answer his question. "You really don't have any experience with Demon Lords, do you? When one of the Seven Great Demon Lords destroys a Digimon, they don't get to reincarnate as a Digi-Egg. Most of the time, they get trapped in the Dark Area and slowly break down to feed the Demon Lords, but in certain situations, we absorb the data of our victims directly. We do that when someone needs to be punished, but they have skills we still need. So, even though Gulfmon and Dragomon both betrayed us and had to be destroyed, we chose to absorb their data to keep certain skills of theirs. Mephistomon betrayed us when he attempted to destroy you before we had captured the powers of Hope and Light, but we still needed his ability to impact Digivolution so I was forced to absorb him. The same thing happened to Dragomon. He was so intent on having Kari for himself as the queen of the Dark Ocean that he tried to kidnap her a few days ago. We couldn't have anyone putting themselves ahead of the overall plan, so he had to go. Daemon destroyed him, and now Daemon can pull things into the Dark Ocean when he wants to. That's about the only skill he got, though. Can you imagine what use Daemon would find for attacks like Tentacle Flapping? I at least got a couple of decent moves. Still, being able to pull things into the Dark Ocean really helped when he grabbed the Digimentals as soon as we got them. This whole time we were just setting up an ambush hoping to get the DigiDestined of Hope and Light themselves instead of just their Digimentals. Without the kids or the Crests, it will probably take a week to open the Gate instead of a few hours."

While Tai, Matt, Davis, and Ken hung their heads at the realization that they had walked right into a trap with the only consolation being TK and Kari were safe, Izzy had to ask a few more questions. "What do you mean, 'the gate'? And is it just you and Daemon organizing this, or is it all of the Seven Great Demon Lords?"

"And that's the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom, isn't it? Knowledge is having answers, but Wisdom is knowing where to find the important answers," Lilithmon cryptically responded. "When you get the chance, you should really try chatting with the Goddess of Wisdom. Tell her I sent you. We go back a long way. Still, lessons aside, that doesn't change the fact that this mission was a complete failure in terms of capturing the Children of Light and Hope. However, I just thought of a way to turn this around. Darkness Love!"

As she called out her last attack, Tai, Matt, Greymon, and Garurumon disappeared inside a pitch-black cocoon of energy. Before the other DigiDestined could react, Tai and Matt emerged from their cocoons with curiously blank faces before slowly walking towards their hidden partners. Shortly thereafter, their Digimon also emerged, but they had undergone some form of change. Whereas Greymon previously had been orange with blue stripes and a brown head, he now was dark blue with black stripes and a black head. A similar change had happened in Garurumon, who was now black with white stripes as opposed to his usual white with blue stripes. Trying to find an explanation, Izzy turned to his Digimon Analyzer, only to find out exactly how bad the situation was. "Tai, Matt, get away from them! She somehow changed them to BlackGreymon and BlackGarurumon. They've somehow switched to Dark Digivolved forms of themselves. They could rampage like SkullGreymon would whenever he would show up!"

Lilithmon gave an evil chuckle. "Well done, Child of Knowledge. That is the effect of my Darkness Love attack. It floods an opponent with darkness, causing even the most light-filled Digimon to become a dark version of themselves. But you needn't worry about them going on a rampage. My attack also binds their hearts to me. They won't attack unless I give the order. Besides, it didn't just hit the Digimon. I'm taking their partners along with me as well. It ought to be interesting seeing what lengths Hope and Light will go to in order to save their brothers, won't it? Now, I could easily take control of all of you, but you'll probably need Imperialdramon to get back and deliver the message to the others, and I don't trust those two brats to be able to explain what's happening, so I guess you have to stay as well. Now, my pawns and I really must be going. See you soon!"

With that, Lilithmon, Tai, Matt, BlackGreymon, and BlackGarurumon all began flickering with static, as if they were images on an old television. They soon flickered out of existence, leaving only the sound of Lilithmon's laugh echoing around the area as the DigiDestined could only watch stunned. In the past two fights, they had lost TK and Kari to the hospital and now they had lost Tai and Matt to the powers of darkness. How were they going to manage to save the Digital World without their leaders and the powers of Hope and Light?

* * *

Author's Note: Well, things certainly aren't looking too good. We get the first sight of the main antagonists of this story, the Seven Great Demon Lords, and let's just say the DigiDestined didn't put on a very good showing. This chapter marks the end of the first arc, with next chapter being more of a breather as the team tries to figure out how to handle everything that's been thrown at them. I'll probably post that tonight as well, but then there's going to be a bit of a break before the next chapter. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts in a review or a message!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, this would have been written by a professional writer and not a college student.

* * *

Davis sighed as he lay back on his bed. Today had officially been the worst day of his life. It was supposed to have been a fun get-together with friends, but now there was a new evil force threatening to destroy the Digital World within a week, and four DigiDestined were down for the count. Tai's kidnapping had also thrust the leadership role right back onto Davis's shoulders, so Davis was now supposed to find a way to fix this. He was aching to go and solve the problem immediately, but with how well rushing in had worked the last time, he knew there was nothing he would be able to accomplish. So, his first order was for everyone to return to Earth and take a night off in order to recuperate. Frankly, he hated the waiting, but seeing how run down everybody was, it was the only plan he could think of that had a positive outcome. So, last night everyone went back home to rest and try to think of a solution, with the exception of TK and Kari who had been taken to a hospital for overnight observation. Apparently, Dr. Kido managed to pull a few strings so nobody would question how they were hurt, which was just about the only positive thing that could be said about the previous day's events.

While Davis had given the order for everyone to rest, he found a hard time following his own advice as he kept trying to think of ways to turn this situation around. He knew he wasn't the brightest, but he had always managed to hit on the right idea when the fate of the world depended on it. Thinking back, he found four fights in the past that could provide a solution. Having at least some semblance of a plan forming in his mind for getting Matt and Tai back, he spent a few more hours thinking on how best to convey his ideas to the others and break the news to TK and Kari when they woke up. Today may have been the worst day ever, but tomorrow it was time to regroup and start fighting back to save the Digital World.

* * *

Across town, Izzy was also having a difficult time sleeping. However, his main worry wasn't so much what Lilithmon had done, but what she had said. First, there was the clear fact that she had the ability to destroy all of them, and even prevent their partners from coming back as Digi-Eggs. She had willingly provided this information, as well as all the information relating to her attacks. In all these cases, she had been completely honest, even though it would have been to her benefit to lie. Then, she had chosen to spare everyone but Tai and Matt, even though there wasn't a good reason to do so. Even if she wanted someone to send a message back to the other DigiDestined, it didn't take three people to send a message. She could have easily taking control of Davis and Ken as well, since Kabuterimon could have easily flown back to the sanctuary in ten minutes from where they fought. So, when Lilithmon said she needed to leave Imperialdramon, there was no reason to do so. It was as if Lilithmon just didn't want to destroy them, which begged the question of why. Was she actually showing mercy to the group most likely to stop her plans? Were they even her plans, or was she just following along with Daemon or someone else?

Izzy knew the only way to get a sure answer to these questions was to ask Lilithmon herself, but she had disappeared to the Dark Ocean along with Tai and Matt. Izzy could only think of four ways into that realm, all of which were exceedingly difficult to pull off. They could be called in by Daemon in much the same way Kari was called in by Dragomon, but he doubted their enemy would invite them into its stronghold unless they had a trap with an extremely high rate of success. A second option was to have TK and Kari open a gate using the powers of Hope and Light as they had before, but Gennai claimed that would only work if one of the two were already inside the Dark Ocean, since the powers of light were the key to leaving the world of darkness, not entering it. The third way was to randomly stumble into a phase warp like Ken, Yolei, and Kari had done the first time Gatomon and Aquilamon DNA Digivolved, but such warps were incredibly rare and unpredictable. This left only option number 4: having Ken open a gate to the Dark Ocean using his D3 and Dark Spore. However, this method was extremely difficult for Ken six years ago, and without the inner darkness of the Digimon Emperor feeding it, there was no guarantee the Dark Spore had any energy left to open the gate. So, if this final method didn't work, Izzy was at a loss on how to save Tai and Matt, reclaim the Digimentals to stop whatever plan was in the works, and get at the evil that was organizing this to destroy it. He didn't know how he could ever find the solution to this impossible puzzle.

As soon as Izzy thought that, he remembered Lilithmon's advice about Knowledge and Wisdom. He didn't have the slightest clue on where to look for answers on his own, and hadn't Lilithmon claimed that wisdom was the quality of knowing where to find answers? She had even claimed there was a Goddess of Wisdom somewhere in the Digital World that he should go talk to. Lilithmon hadn't ever tried to feed them false information before, so could he trust her advice now? His gut instinct said no, but his head claimed it might be the only option available. Resolved to go questing for this Goddess if everything else failed, Izzy finally was able to fall asleep.

* * *

In Tamachi, Ken was also disobeying Davis's order to rest. Knowing that he might be the only possible entrance into the Dark Ocean, he had been up all night trying to conjure up his guilt and regrets from his time as the Digimon Emperor. However, even thinking back on how horrible he acted didn't help him open a gate. In the five and a half years he had been friends with the DigiDestined, he had helped save the world and come into his true nature as the DigiDestined of Kindness. With all the good he had done, he could not convince himself that he had willfully done those horrible things. This made it look like the Dark Spore had been fully responsible for his actions. While he would always feel guilty about what he had done, this simple knowledge prevented him from fully blaming himself. Thus, he was unable to truly feel the guilt and regret needed to open a gate, things which could only come from someone who believed they had chosen to do such horrible things.

Trying not to let his night be completely wasted, Ken re-entered the Digital World. Since the Digimentals of Hope and Light were in the hands of the enemy, Gennai could no longer prevent evil from spreading beyond the Dark Ocean with his barrier. As such, he had taken the barrier down since the only purpose it served now was hindering the DigiDestined instead of their enemies. Ken gathered Patamon and Gatomon from the courtyard of the sanctuary, figuring they would want to see their partners as soon as they got out of the hospital. The two Digimon had stayed behind when TK and Kari left since they wouldn't be welcome in the hospital anyway, and after Tai and Matt were taken over by Lilithmon everyone had been too defeated to think about them. Ken was about to return home when he spotted Michael walking out of the sanctuary building. Surprised that he wasn't the only one in the Digital World, Ken walked up to him and asked what he was doing here.

"Oh, hi Ken," Michael responded. "I couldn't really sleep-even though it's the middle of the night for you in Japan, back in America it's almost noon-so I decided to come talk to Gennai about what's going on. He told me that Earth can also be attacked from the Dark Ocean at any time, so I was thinking it might be best if I went back to America for a little bit. I could rally the American DigiDestined to help out here, or at the very least help organize everyone to defend Earth against any attacks. Mimi volunteered to come with me, but I told her she needed to stay. If I end up not being able to help because I'm organizing defenses in America, you're just missing out on a Champion level. If Mimi were gone, you'd be missing an Ultimate. I told her that you'd need Lillymon much more than I would, so I'm going to head back alone. Good luck winning this time, and if you ever need me just send me a message and I'll be right there. I'm sorry to leave like this, but I feel like I can do the most good preparing a second line of defense."

With that, Michael transported himself back to his home computer in New York and immediately began calling his other DigiDestined friends. He had a lot of work to do alerting all the international DigiDestined and he wanted to make sure Earth was protected from any threat the Dark Ocean could throw at it. Meanwhile, Ken also went to his house, having Patamon and Gatomon stay over so they could see their partners as soon as TK and Kari got out of the hospital. Michael was doing his best to prepare the world for an attack, so Ken vowed that he would do his best to end the threat of an attack by whatever means he could. With that, he too closed his eyes and waited for the coming dawn.

* * *

However, as Ken was going to sleep, Mimi was being kept awake by a crying Sora. Michael had been right about her being needed here in Japan in order to help her friends, but she hadn't planned for a place to stay. Luckily for her, Mrs. Takenouchi was kind enough to invite Mimi into her house for the upcoming week. However, this meant that she was the only one around who could comfort Sora about Matt's disappearance, since Mrs. Takenouchi hadn't been in the Digital World and didn't really understand the situation.

"It's okay, Sora. I know it hurts, but you have to look on the bright side. Matt isn't really hurt, he's just being controlled. If we can beat Lilithmon, he'll go back to normal. Besides, he promised he'd come back, and he's stubborn enough that I'm sure Lilithmon won't be able to control him for long. I guarantee that he's fighting as hard as he can to get back, so we have to fight as hard as we can to help him. I promise to do whatever it takes to help you enjoy your six year anniversary, and my recently re-obtained necklace ought to show you exactly how sincere I am when I say that."

Hearing that, Sora couldn't help but brighten a little bit. "I'm sorry for being such a wreck about this, Mimi. My boyfriend gets kidnaped, and here I go crying like he broke up with me. We'll just have to fight until we get him back. He's still in there somewhere, and I know he wouldn't let an old hag like Lilithmon control him- he is a bit too stubborn for that. I'll fight for the ones I love, and _my _recently re-obtained necklace ought to show you exactly how loving I can be. First thing tomorrow, we're taking that witch down."

With Sora calmed down and both girls determined to fight as soon as they could, they simply said good night and both went to bed, eagerly looking forward to saving Matt and Tai in the coming days.

* * *

The next morning found Davis fuming in the living room of the Takaishi apartment. Seeing as TK had either been unconscious or in the hospital since the disastrous second fight with Lilithmon, he was unaware of the fact that his brother was currently in Lilithmon's thrall. Deciding that TK needed to know about it sooner rather than later, Davis and Cody had gone over to his apartment as soon as they heard he was out of the hospital. Ms. Takaishi had answered the door, and explained that despite his night in the hospital, he was recovering fine. His hearing had started to come back, though it would be a while before he would be back to normal, and the doctors couldn't find any lingering effects from him passing out. She told them he would be fine as long as he avoided stressful situations, but one look at their faces told her that was a luxury he didn't have.

"There's something wrong in the Digital World again, isn't there?" she asked. "That's where TK got hurt, but whatever did it is still running around and you'll need him to help stop it."

Cody wished he didn't have to be the bearer of bad news, but decided that at the very least Ms. Takaishi deserved to know more about the truth. "Unfortunately, that is an optimistic view of the situation. What hurt TK is gone, but there is a much greater threat that he doesn't know about yet, so we have to tell him and then we will need his help."

After Ms. Takaishi had left the room to get TK, Davis leaned over to Cody and asked, "So, what happened to lying being the worst thing ever? You didn't tell her that TK pretty much knocked himself unconscious or that Matt and Tai are now working on the side of evil."

Cody merely glared at him before responding, "Sometimes you have to lie in order to help people. Telling her that one of her sons gave himself a panic attack while the other got brainwashed by an incarnation of lust and we have no idea how to help him wouldn't do anything but hurt her. Besides, I technically didn't lie. Gulfmon hurt TK and he's gone, and there is a much greater threat. I merely did not tell the entire truth."

Davis only had time to mutter "Man, you really _are _becoming a lawyer" before Ms. Takaishi had come back into the room and said, "It's strange, but he says he doesn't want to see anybody and he won't come out of his room. Is there something that happened in the Digital World that you aren't telling me?"

Cody quickly responded in an attempt to defuse the situation. "Sorry Ms. Takaishi, but it would take too long to explain. I do have a pretty good idea what this is about, so maybe if Davis and I talk to him he might snap out of it."

However, Cody's assurances proved to be insignificant compared to the resiliency of TK's locked bedroom door. With no other option, Cody and Davis had to repeat the narration of their failed battle through the door, causing Ms. Takaishi to go into a worried frenzy. Unsure if TK was even listening, Davis was about to leave when the door suddenly opened. TK stood there, but Cody saw the face of the angry TK who had once punched out the Digimon Emperor instead of the usually happy TK that was so hopeful. TK merely said, "So, let's do a recap of everything that's happened since I last went to the Digital World. My best friend receives injuries that send her to the hospital, she gets kidnapped, I get so desperate to save her that I force my other best friend to change into the very thing that KILLED him nine years ago, he flies off to who knows where and might not have survived, and then my brother gets brainwashed and turns evil just because I lost something. At least he has the excuse that he's being forced to use darkness. I chose to embrace it. I don't really think the Digital World would be better if I went to help it right now." He then slammed the door shut, which had resulted in Davis needing to fume for a while in the living room. Cody had absolutely no idea how to handle this situation. Clearly, he wasn't as close to a lawyer as Davis thought if he couldn't even convince his close friend that he hadn't done anything wrong. However, Cody's musings were interrupted when Davis sprang to his feet and started leaving. Cody followed him, unsure of what he was planning, but Davis answered his question before he could even ask it.

"Fine," Davis grumbled, "if that's the way he wants to play, I guess we'll just have to get the big guns here. He can ignore us all he wants, but let's see if he can ignore Kari and Patamon. We're heading to the Kamiya apartment."

"I'm not so sure if that's the best idea. Kari and Patamon are the main factors that are causing this depression. Forcing him to face them could just make him worse. Maybe he just needs a little bit of time to get over this on his own. He sees himself as the problem, so he might need to find the solution by himself."

"That would be great if we had any time," Davis countered, "but in case you forgot Lilithmon said she was a week away from finishing whatever world-ending plan they are working on. We don't exactly have time to waste. Besides, right now TK is blaming himself for hurting Patamon and Kari. The only people who could convince him that that isn't the case are his imagined victims. You know about his issues with losing Patamon better than most, so do you really think if Patamon showed up at his door he'd keep being so distant? And if anything, he'd have an even harder time pushing Kari away. They've been best friends since they were eight, and he's obviously had a crush on her at least since he was eleven, speaking as someone with a bit of experience in the 'obvious crushes on Kari' department. Seriously, you don't fling yourself into another dimension or trigger a miraculous Digivolution in the middle of a no-Digivolving zone to save a girl when she's just a friend. If he's so torn up about hurting Kari, do you really think he would hurt her more by ignoring her?"

Realizing that he had no way to counter this argument, Cody merely shook his head. For trying to be a lawyer, he certainly was having a hard time winning any arguments. They continued the walk in silence until they arrived at the Kamiya apartment. When they knocked on the door, Mrs. Kamiya let them in, and after somehow managing to avoid the offer to try a piece of her newest cake—they knew about her cooking skills—they entered the living room to find Yolei sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. Seeing this, Davis started to fear that Kari was taking the explanation just as poorly as TK had. Bracing himself for the worst, he asked "So, how did briefing Kari go?"

Yolei just shook her head before answering. "Well, Sora and Mimi are still in there trying to convince her not to just offer herself as a hostage in exchange for Tai and Matt. Seriously, I know we're DNA partners and that should make it easy for me to understand her, but why is she convinced everything is her fault? Sure, this time they were chasing down her Digimental, but only because she happened to get saddled with the Crest of Light. If being such a good person means you have to make such stupid sacrifices as giving up the one thing evil needs to take over the world in order to save a couple of people, I'm sort of glad there aren't that many good people in the world."

Davis quirked an eyebrow and responded, "You think that's bad? Cody and I just got back from TK's. Not only is he convinced that this whole mess is his fault, he berated himself for being the kind of person who would embrace darkness and doesn't seem to realize that doing it to save a friend is a pretty darn good reason. He also thinks he really hurt Patamon when he became Devimon, so he pretty much shut himself in his room and bit our heads off when we came over. Seriously, I know TK and Kari are normally such great people, but why are they convinced that everything bad is their fault? They'd probably blame themselves if their kids get pimples!"

"Not to interrupt before Davis starts going on a rant about TK and Kari's married life," Cody interrupted to prevent Davis from ranting about how TK and Kari acted like a married couple, "but other than blaming herself, is she holding up okay? We are going to need both TK and Kari if we want to have any hope of winning this battle, but we need Kari to get TK to come along with us. Davis thinks if we get Kari and Patamon to convince him they are okay and that it wasn't his fault they got hurt, he'll snap out of it."

Yolei considered this for a second before replying, "You know, I think that might be one more brilliant idea from Davis. Keep this up and people might forget that you used to be our little bone-headed leader. So, Kari and TK are both angsting up a storm over how everything bad that happens is their fault. Well, we can work with this. Get them both in the same room, have them argue about which one of them is really to blame until Kari convinces TK it isn't his fault and vice versa, and maybe even provide the push so they finally see that they are madly in love with each other so they can start dating and I can finally double date with them."

Cody rolled his eyes at the last part of that statement, but rather than argue with Yolei over her playing matchmaker—she always complained that the only other DigiDestined couple lived in Kyoto now and thus none of her friends were available to double date, so she tried setting up various pairings with no success yet—Cody merely agreed with her plan on the merit of the first two points. Seeing as Kari was still locked in discussion with Sora and Mimi, Davis decided to act on getting Patamon over to TK's house as well. He sent a message to Gennai to ask if Patamon was still with him, but was surprised to learn Ken had taken Patamon with him last night. He was about to send a message asking Ken to bring Patamon to Kari's apartment when Ken himself appeared at the door, carrying Wormmon and followed by Patamon and Gatomon. He seemed surprised to see Davis, Cody and Yolei all gathered at the Kamiya apartment, but after a quick explanation agreed with the plan to get TK and Kari to talk each other out of their current funks. With that, Gatomon went off to Kari's room, and with Gatomon's encouragement, Kari finally agreed to leave the room and go with the other DigiDestined to try to help Tai and Matt without giving herself up. Not wanting to set her back into a mild depression by telling her about TK's condition, they merely told her that they were going to make a quick stop at TK's apartment before having the remainder of the DigiDestined meet at Izzy's house to discuss a plan of action for the upcoming week. With that, they all once again headed outside.

* * *

Kari could only stare at the locked door to TK's room. While she had initially thought they were only coming here to pick up TK, when they arrived Davis told everyone to go on without them before quickly pulling her aside and telling her that TK had entered some sort of depression and that he and Cody hadn't been able to talk him out of it. He said he thought she might be the only one besides Patamon who could get through to him, so he soon left her alone with Patamon and Gatomon in the hopes that she could talk some sense into him. Immediately, Kari was torn. One part of her desperately wanted to tear down the door and do whatever she could to help him until he felt better. The other part was scared of what might happen if she did just that. If she started talking to TK about his problems, he'd probably turn the conversation to her problems. It was what he always did, trying to focus on making her feel better even if he was having a bad day.

Unfortunately, that was part of the main problem with this plan: she liked this about him way more than any friend should. If he tried asking if she was okay, she might have to explain that she had a panic attack just seeing him pass out. If the implications of that didn't immediately make things awkward, she had no idea what would. However, the part of her that was worried about TK won out, and she softly knocked on the door. Not getting a response, she knocked louder, and asked "TK? Are you in there?" She thought she heard the sound of someone sitting up on a bed inside, but got no other response. Finally, Patamon shouted "Don't make me blow your door down, TK!" and TK finally opened his door. Kari was shocked to see the hurt and fear clearly displayed in his eyes, which had usually been full of cheer and hope. She hadn't seen him like this except during their fight with BlackWarGreymon and whenever she had been taken to the Dark Ocean. However, some of the usual joy managed to find its way into his face when Patamon flew up and landed on his head.

"Patamon, you're okay!" TK exclaimed. "I thought I had lost you again. When I forced you to become Devimon, I wasn't sure if you'd ever be able to come back to me, or even if you could I wasn't sure you'd want to."

Patamon merely shook his head. "Why wouldn't I ever want to see you again, TK? You're my best friend. Besides, just because I became Devimon didn't mean I really changed. You don't freak out about never seeing me again when I become Angemon, do you? Just because I looked different on the outside didn't mean I was different on the inside. About the only change was feeling really angry at all the Bakemon and Vilemon for hurting you and Kari. Even then, that wasn't that big of a change since I'd get angry in any form if anyone tried to hurt you anyway. It was just a little bit more than usual."

TK started to argue back. "But that doesn't really matter. The last time you saw Devimon, you died. I forced you to face that memory again. How can you forgive me for making you turn into the very evil you killed yourself to destroy?"

Gatomon had had enough of his sulking, and interrupted him before he could continue. "So what, you made him Dark Digivolve. Let's see what happened because of it: he saves Kari from being kidnapped, goes after a bunch of Bakemon and Vilemon in order to protect you, and then comes right back as Patamon wondering why you got all depressed about it. Does any of that sound evil to you? Evil is a matter of choice, and he still chose to do the right thing despite being shrouded in darkness."

"So, I guess that makes me the evil one then, huh? Patamon didn't choose to do the wrong thing despite being shrouded in darkness, but I'm the one who was so desperate to save Kari that I forced my best friend to be shrouded in darkness in the first place."

Kari's eyes widened at this last statement. "Is that why all of this happened? You're convinced you're evil just because you were helping me?" TK's face clearly displayed that he had said much more than he meant to in the situation, but before he could start backpedaling Kari continued, "Because if that's the case, at least you have a much better excuse for having your panic attack than I did. You freaked out in order to save me. I freaked out because you were hurt and I didn't know what to do. At least you were trying to help out."

"Wait, you had a panic attack too? What else did I miss when I passed out?"

Now it was Kari who was looking as if she had said a little bit more than she had originally meant to. However, TK's face now showed genuine concern instead of the near depression that had been evident when she first arrived, so she decided not to bother taking back anything she said. "Yeah, I thought you knew. Right after Devimon came and talked to you, you sort of passed out in my arms. I sort of lost it right after that happened, so after that the others will have to fill you in. I was just so worried about you I couldn't think clearly anymore. I'm sorry for not being able to help you when you really needed it."

TK was quick to stop her from falling into her own spiral of self-pity. "You don't have to apologize for that, Kari. I did pretty much the same thing just by you being threatened. I don't know what I would do if you actually got hurt. If anyone needs to apologize, it's me."

"I don't think so, TK," Kari countered. "How many times do Patamon and I have to tell you? You didn't do anything wrong. You did the only thing you could do to help me, and you didn't hurt anyone in the process, not counting the Vilemon and Bakemon. If you want to apologize for doing that, you'd have to apologize for fighting Myotismon, the Dark Masters, and Piedmon as well. And if saving the world needs an apology, all of us need to apologize, not just you."

TK grinned sheepishly. "Okay, fine. I won't feel sorry about saving you. But I will apologize for being so desperate to save you. Not that I ever want you to get hurt, but I know how much you hate people treating you like you are helpless. If I was so desperate to help you, doesn't that mean that I didn't think you could save yourself?"

Kari just shook her head and smiled. "There's a difference between thinking I can't help myself and saving me whenever I actually can't help myself. Gatomon couldn't Digivolve, so she couldn't fly in to save me like Devimon did. I don't think anyone else was close to us, so if Devimon didn't save me, the only way I was getting saved would be if I somehow managed to defeat five Bakemon on my own. So, in this one case, I think I might have been as close to helpless as I could ever be, so you get a pass on acting like I was helpless. Besides, do you want to know a secret? Whenever you try to help me, I don't really think it's insulting, but actually kind of sweet. It just shows that you really care about me a lot, and it always inspires me to do all I can to help you out just as much so you can see how much I care about you too."

Gatomon had to smile at this. Not only were TK and Kari both back to their normal, much happier selves, but they actually seemed like they were starting to admit that their feelings extended beyond normal friendship. Now, Gatomon wasn't quite sure exactly how human relationships worked, but she had seen how much happier Sora and Yolei were once they started dating Matt and Ken, and she wanted Kari to experience that happiness as well. And since TK was Kari's best friend and the DigiDestined Gatomon was closest to outside of her partner, she wanted him to be able to share in the happiness. It was painfully obvious that both of them wanted to have a relationship, so Gatomon was glad that they were starting to admit it. In fact, it seemed to be going exceptionally well, as TK and Kari had been staring into each other's eyes for a few seconds before slowly leaning towards each other. From Gatomon's experience with human movies, this was usually a sign of two humans about to kiss, which then started a relationship that ended with "happily ever after." It was looking like TK and Kari would finally-

Suddenly, Kari's D-Terminal pinged. The innocent sound was still enough to make TK and Kari realize exactly what they had been about to do, and both could only blush and avert their eyes. Gatomon hissed in annoyance at the interruption, but the moment had effectively ended. Kari checked the offending message.

"Well," Kari said sheepishly, "apparently Izzy's parents are having some friends over, so we won't be able to meet there to discuss a plan of action for saving Matt and Tai. Everyone else is heading to the sanctuary in the Digital World. I guess we shouldn't keep them waiting, should we?"

TK quickly replied, "Yeah, sounds like a plan. And, uh, Kari?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for the talk. It really helped. I'll try not to get so down on myself again."

"I'm glad I could help. And thanks for always being there to save me when I need it."

With that, they both turned toward TK's computer and opened a gate, followed by two very disappointed Digimon partners. However, the two DigiDestined had a little bit more hope at seeing the other seemed to share their feelings. With that small light to keep up their spirits, they found they had a hard time keeping their pessimistic feelings from earlier with regards to the current situation in the Digital World. As long as they gave their best shot, they were certain they could save their brothers and stop whatever plan the forces of evil were currently putting into motion.

* * *

Author's Note: In case you couldn't get the romantic hints here, the romance in this story is pretty much going to be limited to TK and Kari. You are allowed to support your own pairings, but that is my favorite pairing so I'll obviously be supporting it. As this is my first attempt at portraying romance, I'm not sure how well it went, but that's what practice is for. Anyway, it served to snap TK out of his poorly-written depression, and now the team's starting to get a plan together to hopefully get Tai and Matt back before time runs out. Now, it might be a couple of days before I next update (I have a final and then a three hour car ride tomorrow, then a family Christmas celebration on Saturday), so I hope you've been enjoying the story so far!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. If I did, you wouldn't have to rely on my writing skills to picture these events.

* * *

Davis glanced around at the DigiDestined gathered around him. After TK and Kari had shown up, both seeming to have come out of their depressions yet somewhat shier than usual around each other, the whole team now consisted of the younger group from the second adventure accompanied by Joe, Izzy, Sora, and Mimi. Not exactly the most battle-ready group, but it would have to do. Seeing as time was of the essence, he immediately got right into the business of the meeting.

"Ok, we have a lot to get done and not a lot of time to do it. As everyone knows, Lilithmon has basically kidnapped Tai and Matt and is currently holding them in the Dark Ocean. This provides two major problems: we don't really have a way into the Dark Ocean in the first place, and even if we did, Lilithmon somehow absorbed Gulfmon's ability to prevent Digivolution. Add this to the fact that she's already a powerful Mega, and we have to think outside of the box if we want to win this before time runs out. Luckily, I have a few ideas on how to get around that second problem."

"What do you mean, Davis?" Gennai asked.

"Well, I'm just thinking back to when Yolei, Cody and I first came to the Digital World. The problem then was nobody could Digivolve, yet we still managed thanks to Armor Digivolution."

"That sounds good at first," Ken replied, "but we're facing a bit more of a challenge than I ever posed. All you had to do to beat me was destroy the Dark Rings or Spirals I was using to control Champion and Ultimate level Digimon. Since Armor forms are approximately equal to Champion in power, they could manage just fine against those opponents. Now we're facing a Mega. Remember how much BlackWarGreymon trounced us until we had three DNA Ultimates on our side? Armor forms won't cut it."

"I was getting to that," Davis answered. "I was just thinking about two other fights where Armor forms didn't help: against Kimeramon and Cherubimon. In both cases, the enemy was powerful enough to just play around with our highest forms at the time. However, when I used the Digimental of Miracles and Veemon Golden Armor Digivolved into Magnamon, he was strong enough to beat both opponents, with help from Wormmon and Rapidmon of course."

Once again, Ken had to present a flaw in Davis's plan. "That's all great, but you don't exactly have the Digimental of Miracles on you. The first time you used it, it was created from my Crest of Kindness, and once my Crest returned to me the Digimental disappeared. And even though I wasn't part of your group when you fought Cherubimon, I know that it took Patamon and Gatomon turning to their Mega forms in order to release the Digimentals for you and Willis. It's not like they can go to Mega if they can't Digivolve at all. And even if they could go to Mega, why exactly would they release the Digimentals instead of fighting as Megas anyway?"

Kari was the one who answered Ken's question. "Back when we fought Cherubimon, there was a very good reason we didn't fight as Megas. You have to remember, we didn't have Crests back then, so we shouldn't have been able to go beyond Champion without DNA Digivolving. However, we ended up finding a way around that problem after we got stranded on a train trying to catch up with the others. As we were trying to get back, we somehow got pulled into the Digital World by the Sovereigns. They gave us the power of the Digimentals of Miracles and Destiny, but Gatomon and Patamon couldn't use them themselves. Instead, they were sort of stored inside of them, giving them the power to Digivolve beyond Champion temporarily. Of course, it wasn't enough energy to allow them to fight in their Mega forms for long- they'd only last one hit each, so instead they just released the Digimentals when they got the chance. Now that we don't have that power source, Patamon and Gatomon won't be able to go to Mega unless TK and I somehow unlock the form through the power of our Crests. Though since the only ones of us who ever reached Mega on our own did so through an ancient prophecy, I'm not exactly sure if that would even work."

It was Gennai who now felt the need to explain something. "In theory, anybody with a Crest, or should I say the power from a Crest, would be able to achieve Digivolution to the Mega form. However, it would be extremely difficult to accomplish. If you recall, to unlock the Ultimate level you had to display the trait indicated by the Crest in order to activate it and give your partners the needed energy, and the first time you reached that level required a much greater display of the trait. To reach Mega without the aid of an ancient prophecy involving you and TK essentially shooting your own brothers with the powers of Hope and Light would require a display of your particular traits to such a degree that it almost blocks out every other character trait you have, at least for a moment. Of course, once you reach the level a first time, it becomes much easier, but that doesn't mean you'll be able to get it done the first time."

"Thanks for explaining that," Davis responded, "and I have another question I'd like to ask you a little bit later, but for right now, I'd like to continue from where Ken interrupted me. I know I don't have the Digimental of Miracles on me right now, but I do remember one fight that showed me how to get it whenever I really need it. Right before you joined our group, we came across a Mutant Digmon called Parallelmon. He was a nasty piece of work who could travel between parallel dimensions and grew stronger by absorbing anybody who had a Digimon partner. I messed up a bit and rushed in to attack him before I knew any of this, and it took TK shoving me out of the way of his attack to realize how big of a mistake I had made. Unfortunately, the others all got absorbed into Parallelmon, but I somehow got flung into another dimension. While there, I worked together with an alternate version of Tai to save the others, and they all somehow channeled their powers to me and created the Digimental of Miracles. If we could do the same thing, we should be able to get Magnamon again to help take out Lilithmon."

While this news excited everyone, Izzy felt the need to stay rational. "While Magnamon will definitely help our cause, I highly doubt he will be enough. No offense to you, Veemon, but when you fought Kimeramon, you were an even match for him, and he was technically an Ultimate level. When you fought the Mega level Cherubimon, it took the help of another Golden Armor form in order to take him out, and even then what you destroyed wasn't so much him as it was the virus that was corrupting him. Lilithmon has the title of a Great Demon Lord. She won't be a pushover, so I think it would be best if you had more help than a bunch of rookies and a few Armor forms."

Davis let out a triumphant grin. "That's where phase two of the plan comes in. You're approaching this as if Armor Digivolution is the only way to work around Lilithmon blocking our Digivolution powers, but we had a clear example of why that isn't the case. Just ask TK and Kari- Patamon Digivolved well after Gulfmon unleashed his Black Requiem. I'm thinking it would be possible for everyone to Dark Digivolve like he did. Now that you have your Crests, you might even be able to Dark Digivolve to Ultimate or even Mega. With that, we should have just enough force to beat Lilithmon, which would free Tai and Matt from her control before we raid the Dark Ocean to stop whatever the heck is going on in there."

Cody took his turn at pointing out potential flaws in Davis's plan. "It's good that you have a plan, but I still see two major issues. First, you are relying on Dark Digivolution, which sounds really dangerous against a foe that can control the powers of darkness as well as Lilithmon can. Plus, don't you remember SkullGreymon? He was a Dark Digivolution of Agumon, and even with a Dark Ring on him Ken couldn't control him. Apparently the first time Agumon became SkullGreymon, he just destroyed everything in his path until he ran out of energy. What happens if we Dark Digivolve to fight Lilithmon only to lose control of our partners and have to fight them as well? Even if we don't run into any of those problems, how exactly can we even find Lilithmon? Just knowing she's in the Dark Ocean doesn't help us much. That's like saying a person is somewhere on Earth. We'd need to narrow it down before we have a chance of even finding her, assuming we could even get in to the Dark Ocean at will."

Ken once again joined the conversation, adding, "I'm not sure if we will be able to get to the Dark Ocean. I tried opening a gate there last night, but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. Unless Gennai has a different way in, we might be stuck without a way to fight back."

Gennai could only shake his head at this. "Unfortunately, we do not have a way to open a gate into the Dark Ocean. If TK or Kari were currently in the Dark Ocean, they might be able to open a gate out, but the powers of Light and Hope serve as a way out of darkness, not into it. And since they are both outside of the Dark Ocean currently, they only way they have of getting in is getting pulled in by Daemon, and he wouldn't bother doing that if it could only harm his cause. I guess our only course of action is waiting until they open whatever gate they are talking about and hoping we can hold out against whatever it does."

Once again, Davis's optimism would not be contained. "Here's the thing- I don't think we'll have to go to the Dark Ocean to save Tai and Matt. Lilithmon said they were being used to draw out TK and Kari in order to shorten the timespan for their plan from a week to a few hours. Now that we've convinced them not to go running off on their own to get pulled in, Lilithmon will have to come get TK and Kari herself. That means Lilithmon, Tai, and Matt will have to come to us in the Digital World if they want to get TK and Kari, and they'll have to do it in the next week. Since Lilithmon was surprisingly honest with us about everything else, I think we can at least trust her on this too. So, we have to start working on getting ready to fight her as soon as we can, since she'll be coming for us sometime in this week. Since we have to hurry, we'll need to know as much as we can about Dark Digivolution so we can get right to work. Gennai, what do you know about it?"

"Well," Gennai responded, "on its own, there is nothing malicious about Dark Digivolution. Many Digimon naturally can follow multiple paths depending on what data they are exposed to- like Greymon becoming MetalGreymon or SkullGreymon. That's why there is a much greater variety of Champion levels than Baby levels, since each Baby form can Digivolve along a branched pathway to many different types. However, this becomes a problem when it happens to a Digimon with a human partner. Instead of slowly accumulating the data over the course of their life, and thus having time to get used to the new data that results in a new form, partner Digimon can Digivolve with a sudden infusion of energy from their partners. So, instead of slowly acclimating to a type of energy, they suddenly change and have to deal with that. In the case of Dark Digivolution, the sudden surge of negative energy that they aren't prepared to handle can easily overwhelm them, causing them to lose control of themselves. That's why they tend to go berserk whenever they are forced to Digivolve without being ready."

"Then why did Patamon still help us when he became Devimon?" TK asked. "I forced him to Dark Digivolve, but he still acted pretty much the same as he usually would. If we could get an answer to that, we might be able to make this whole Dark Digivolution plan work!"

"Well, to be honest, I am not the most familiar with how this all works," Gennai answered. "After all, there have only been four partner Digimon I am aware of that have undergone Dark Digivolution. Patamon just became Devimon yesterday, Willis's partner Lopmon Dark Digivolved into Wendingomon before you fought him, and Matt's Garurumon just became BlackGarurumon while under Lilithmon's control, even though that was more of a shift into a dark form than an actual Digivolution. Of course, the most experienced with Dark Digivolution would be Tai's Agumon, who became SkullGreymon once on his original adventure and multiple times under the influence of the Dark Ring, a viral MetalGreymon with a Dark Spiral, and then BlackGreymon under Lilithmon's control. Still, other than Devimon, nobody has managed to regain control of themselves in their dark forms. If I had to guess, I would say that Patamon himself also desperately wanted to Digivolve, and his desperation mirrored your own to the point where he was dealing with the negative emotions on his own, and thus didn't lose control when he used your negative energy to Digivolve. In theory, all of you should easily be able to reach the Champion level under the effects of Black Requiem, since it would be just like the first time you came here and you unlocked your usual Champion forms. If you are in great enough danger, your partners should be able to Digivolve. Of course, without Black Requiem in effect, they would just Digivolve to their regular Champion forms under the same circumstances, so we can't test this theory."

"But if we can't practice," Mimi asked, "how can we know if it will work? I mean, I know we will have to fight Tai and Matt in order to get them to come back to their senses, but I don't know if I could handle it if Palmon Dark Digivolved and we had to fight her as well. Patamon could probably handle TK's dark energy because, let's face it, TK in his darkest moments is still a really good person. I'm thinking some of Kari's light rubbed off on him in all the time they hang out together. But I know I have quite a bit worse of a dark side with how spoiled and shallow I can act. If I forced Palmon to lose who she was, I don't know if I could ever forgive myself."

At this, Sora decided to finally join the conversation. "Listen, I know this plan is risky, and I won't force any of you to go along with it. But, it is the only plan we have right now. I'm going to be right out there doing everything I can to get my boyfriend back. All I have to do is wait for Lilithmon to show up, and Biyomon and I will be Digivolving to get them back."

Seeing her resolve, all the DigiDestined began to make their decisions. Ken was the first to speak. "I'll be staying to help the people who are going to try to Dark Digivolve. Remember when Boltmon attacked on Valentine's Day right after we beat MaloMyotismon? Davis started going all evil on us, but I got the Digimental of Kindness and Wormmon Armor Digivolved into Bucchiemon and managed to expel the darkness with his Heart Beam attack. If we do the same thing now, we would be able to get rid of the darkness if it corrupts any of our partners and not have to fight them. The same technique might even work on Matt and Tai, though I'm not sure if our kindness is any match for the kind of power Lilithmon is exerting over them. If Bucchiemon isn't needed anymore, I'll just have to borrow someone else's Digimental for the battle. As useful as Bucchiemon is, he isn't exactly the best fighter."

"Yeah, you can just borrow my Digimentals, since I'll be using the Digimental of Miracles anyway," Davis supplied. "Since we're DNA partners and all, you shouldn't have too much trouble using them."

Mimi went next. "Okay, now that I don't have to worry about losing Palmon, I'll be right there next to Sora, Davis, Ken, and everyone else who wants to help. We'll teach Lilithmon exactly what happens when you mess with the DigiDestined!"

Izzy went next, though he was the first to not go along with the plan. "I'm really sorry, everyone, but I don't think I should join you. Something Lilithmon told me right after she took control of Matt and Tai keeps sticking with me. She said that even though I have the Crest of Knowledge, I wouldn't be able to know how to stop her, and that I would need to find Wisdom to know that. Seeing as how she was always one step ahead of us, I don't know if strength alone will be enough to win this. She told me to seek out the Goddess of Wisdom to find out exactly what she was up to and the nature of the gate they are trying to open. I know it could be a trap, but there is the slight chance that it might be the only way to find out how to get out of this mess. I think I'll try to solve this problem from that angle."

Davis merely nodded. "Not a problem. We know you're doing what you can to help Tai and Matt anyway. Getting more information on this situation will definitely help us out, and you're the best candidate to get that information. Do you have any idea on where you can find this Goddess of Wisdom?"

Before Izzy could respond, Gennai cut in. "The only being I know that goes by the title of Goddess of Wisdom is Minervamon. She is a member of a mysterious group of Mega level Digimon that goes by the name of the Olympos XII. They watch over the Digital World, but take a dedicated neutrality approach to any conflict. As long as the Digital World itself will not be destroyed, they will not interfere in the struggle between light and darkness, viewing times of darkness as a natural part of the cycle of the world. I am not exactly sure where they currently are, but I believe the information may be found in Centarumon's temple. It is an ancient place that holds much more than the legend of the DigiDestined. I shall inform him that you will be going to the temple so he may help guide you."

"Alright," Izzy replied, "that's settled then. As soon as this meeting is over, I'll head over and see if Centarumon can help find this Minervamon. I know I'm probably being stupid for following our enemy's advice, but I feel like this is something I have to do."

Seeing as Izzy was currently going off on his own, Joe decided to speak up next. "Izzy, if you don't mind, I'd like to go along with you. I feel like most of us are going to stay and follow along with this Dark Digivolution plan, so I won't be as needed here. However, if you're going to be going after this Goddess, it'll probably be a lot more difficult than just following a few signs. You could use the help, and you can rely on me to be there every step of the way. We'll get the information we need from Minervamon and be back before Lilithmon even notices we were gone."

TK went next. "Well, I think it goes without saying that I'll be staying. After all, it is my brother we're trying to rescue, and he'd never let me live it down if I just sat aside and let other people try to save him. Not that what Izzy and Joe are doing isn't important, but I don't know if a quest for Wisdom is my kind of thing. Plus, Patamon already mostly has control of his Devimon form, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to master that. After all, we all figured out how to go to Champion whenever we needed to after we did it the first time, so I guess it should be the same now. Though I have a question, Gennai. I can understand how Dark Digivolving to Champion works, but how about to higher levels? After all, we need to use our Crests normally, but I don't see how traits like Hope and Light will trigger a Dark Digivolution."

Gennai sighed. "I wish I could give you more answers, but I'm afraid I just don't know enough about this to be definitive. What I can say is when Tai first had Greymon Digivolve he did so using a negative interpretation of his Crest trait. After all, being reckless is still a form of courage, but it came with a lack of concern over the safety of himself or others. It wasn't until he truly realized what was at stake but risked his life anyway that he unlocked the Crest of Courage without the negative implications of that trait that he managed a non-Dark Digivolution."

TK thanked Gennai for his little hint, but quickly became lost in thought as he started trying to figure out how he would try to find a negative aspect of Hope he could use to Dark Digivolve to Ultimate after he fully mastered controlling Devimon. Seeing as he wouldn't be saying anything more, Kari decided to cast her vote on the situation.

"Like TK, I'll be staying and fighting to get my brother back. Besides, if they really are trying to capture the two of us, it makes more sense for us to stay together if we want to lure Lilithmon into a trap of our own. Luckily for me, Gatomon is already a Champion, so we won't have to worry about Dark Digivolving to get to that level. Of course, I'm also unlucky enough that I have to find a way to Dark Digivolve using the Crest of Light, so hopefully I'll figure something out before everyone else has their Mega forms ready."

Cody decided to announce his plans next. "If you don't mind, I think it would be best if I went with Izzy and Joe. We don't know exactly what we could encounter while trying to find Minervamon. If we end up in a situation that blocks Digivolution, they should have someone who can at least Armor Digivolve to help out. Besides, my grandfather always says wisdom is the most important thing to strive for, so I think I would enjoy the chance to speak with the Goddess of Wisdom."

Seeing nods from the rest of the group, Cody went over and sat next to Joe and Izzy. Seeing as she was the last to speak up, Yolei cleared her throat and immediately began speaking. "Listen, I know I'm probably being a horrible friend when I say this, but I'm really not comfortable with staying and fighting against our friends. I know there are times when we have to fight for the right thing, and this is one of those times, but I don't know if I can force Hawkmon to fight Agumon and Gabumon. So, do you mind if I help Izzy, Joe, and Cody look for Minervamon instead? I think this would be the best way to help without directly fighting."

Ken put his arm around Yolei. "That works just fine. We all know you want to help, and if you aren't comfortable fighting Tai and Matt, you can still help them by helping Joe, Izzy and Cody."

Seeing that everyone had decided what they were going to do, Davis saw it was time to wrap up the meeting. "Okay then, looks like we have our plan. Izzy, Joe, Cody, and Yolei will head for Centarumon's temple and try to meet Minervamon to find out exactly what we are dealing with and maybe start making a backup plan. The rest of us here will work on directly fighting Lilithmon, Tai, and Matt to get them back. I'll use the Digimental of Miracles, and TK, Kari, Sora, and Mimi will use Dark Digivolution. Ken will use the Digimental of Kindness in order to make sure we don't lose control of any of the dark Digimon, and if that isn't necessary, he'll borrow one of my Digimentals to actually fight. We may as well get started right away, since we don't know when Lilithmon will show her face."

With that, the DigiDestined split up to go on their separate paths, both hoping the end result would be saving their friends and the Digital World once again.

* * *

Kari sighed. Sure, trying to Dark Digivolve sounded like a great plan in order to save her brother from Lilithmon's clutches, but that didn't change the fact that she had no idea how. After all, she had the Crest of Light. How exactly was she supposed to use the power of light for dark purposes? She had only ever been able to activate her Crest by worrying about others and trying to be the best person possible. Now she had to figure out exactly how to cast being a good person in a negative light in order to Dark Digivolve. She somehow doubted she could ever figure that out on her own, so she decided to see how everyone else was doing. Davis and Ken were talking amongst themselves, while everyone else was having a quiet conversation with their partners. She guessed they were all trying to do the same thing she was in trying to figure out how to use their Crests in a darker way than they had before. After all, Gennai had said they should all be able to reach Champion as soon as the need to Digivolve under the effects of Black Requiem arose, so they didn't need to spend as much time worrying about the Champion level as they did Ultimate. Suddenly, TK stood up with Patamon and started walking towards Ken and Davis. Wondering what was going on, Kari decided to follow his lead and walked over to where he was.

"Hey TK, what's up?" Kari asked.

"Well," TK responded, "at first I was thinking about how I could Dark Digivolve to Ultimate, but I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out how I could ever turn Hope into a bad thing. I imagine you're having even more of a problem with that than I am though. After all, I don't have to turn Light into darkness like you do."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious there, TK. I figured I'd see how everyone else was doing since I was stuck too when I noticed you seemed to have a plan. So, are you going to tell me what it is, or will I need to bust out the puppy dog eyes?"

TK just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Oh come on Kari, you know that isn't fair. You know nobody can resist that. Seriously, even Gatomon can't help but give in, and she's a digital cat who shouldn't find puppy eyes adorable. I bet Lilithmon would even have a hard time resisting if you just asked her to give Matt and Tai back." Kari just punched him lightly on the arm after this, so TK decided to get a little bit more serious. "But anyway, I thought of a way I could actually do something to help out other than sitting around. After all, Patamon is the only one who's Dark Digivolved before, so I'm thinking we might be able to do it again before Lilithmon shows up. After all, after we unlock a level once, we've pretty much always been able to access it at will later. Still, I'm not sure if it would go well, so I was going to ask Ken to have Bucchiemon ready just in case Devimon loses control. After all, last time he just had to direct his power towards the Bakemon. Assuming the powers of darkness work like anger, it's a lot easier to direct it at a certain target than simply suppress it from going after anyone."

"Oh come on TK, I'm not going to lose control," Patamon protested. "After all, I can't really protect you if I'm hurting all of your friends, can I?"

"It's not exactly you I'm worried about, Patamon," TK replied. "I'm more worried about losing control of myself. After all, I'm the one who has to channel the negative energy in the first place. I know you can handle yourself, but I'm a little bit scared to find out if I'd be able too. I don't even know if I'll be able to generate those negative feelings at will, let alone control them. After all, last time it took Kari being kidnapped for me to be able to do it, and that's not exactly a situation any of us want to repeat, now is it?"

"Alright TK," Kari interrupted, "don't tell me you've already forgotten our earlier talk.

You can't keep getting down on yourself. I'm sure you'll be fine. Now, let's go get Ken's help and see if you can handle turning Patamon into a guardian devil instead of a guardian angel."

"Fine, let's go. Though I wouldn't joke around too much about guardian devils if I were you. After all, if Devimon is the dark form of Angemon, it sort of makes sense that LadyDevimon would be the dark form of Angewomon." He then laughed, and added, "And considering Gatomon's history, she might end up getting into a catfight with herself."

Gatomon had to whine at this. "Was that last pun really necessary? Just remember, I do have a bit of experience in the evil department, and I am currently a Champion. You'd best not tempt me into doing something I'd regret later."

However, Kari and Patamon's reactions were much more positive, as both had to suppress laughter. Finally, the group arrived to where Ken, Davis, Wormmon, and Veemon had all been arguing among themselves. Davis was the first to notice the new arrivals, and greeted them with a simple, "Hey guys, what's up?"

TK answered, "Well, I was just thinking that I should be able to Digivolve Patamon into Devimon at will now, since we've done it before, but I wanted to make sure of it. Just in case something goes wrong, I was going to ask Ken if he could have Bucchiemon standing by to do his whole evil-nullification thing. But what exactly were you two up to?"

This time, Ken answered. "Well, I was just pointing out some issues in Davis's latest plan. He claims to know how to get the Digimental of Miracles, but something just seems off. Last time, everyone used their D3s to send it to him, but now we don't have Cody or Yolei here to help. I thought it would have been better if we had given him the Digimental before we split up."

Davis then had to give his side of the argument. "Listen, you make a good point, but that strategy would never work. The Digimental of Miracles is a temporary thing. Veemon can't stay as Magnamon for very long because the Digimental itself disappears after a certain period of time. Rather than get the Digimental when we were all together and then have it disappear right when Magnamon starts to fight, I thought it would be better to get it right before a fight starts. As for missing some people, we might not have Yolei or Cody, but we do have you, Sora, and Mimi with us this time. Besides, there were some other Digimon Tamers absorbed by Parallelmon that helped me out, so you just need a Digivice to create the Digimental. You have to have a bit of faith if you ever hope to get a miracle, don't you?"

Ken sighed. "I still think we should have at least made sure our plan could work before we tried it, but I guess it is too late now. Let's just try to do the best we can and hope everything works out. Wormmon, are you ready to Armor Digivolve?" Wormmon nodded, and Ken then called out, "Digi-Armor Energize!"

Wormmon began glowing and announced, "Wormmon Armor Digivolve to… Bucchiemon!" When the light cleared, the green caterpillar had grown into a red creature resembling a fairy. While Ken, TK, Kari, Gatomon, and Patamon all didn't really react to the change, knowing that Wormmon was a little self-conscious about his appearance in this form, Veemon couldn't help but comment. "Hey, what gives? You announced your name, but don't you have some sort of title? Like, Flamedramon is 'the Fire of Courage,' Raidramon is 'the Storm of Friendship,' Magnamon is 'the Radiance of Miracles,' and so on. Don't you have something similar for Kindness?"

"Well," Bucchiemon responded, "I guess I haven't thought of anything for it yet. I don't usually take this form, so I didn't really think of a good name for myself. I guess I'm just Bucchiemon for now. You have to remember, whenever I fight it's always as Stingmon, Paildramon, or Imperialdramon. I never had to Armor Digivolve to fight like you did."

Veemon couldn't help but mutter "Well, what fun is Armor Digivolving if you don't get to make a cool title for yourself?" before Davis interrupted him. "Veemon, let it go. If it really bothers you, you could help him figure something out after this whole crisis is over. Let's just let Bucchiemon do his job and give TK a chance to try to Dark Digivolve."

TK just nodded. "Okay, but before I try this, everyone might want to take a few steps back. I wouldn't want something to happen faster than Bucchiemon, Gatomon, or Veemon could react, so could you just try to give us some space?"

Everyone took a few steps back, leaving TK and Patamon standing in a bit of a clearing. TK closed his eyes and started concentrating while holding his D3, but it was a full minute before Patamon began to glow with a dark purple light. "Patamon, Dark Digivolve to…Devimon!" Once again, the black devil had replaced Patamon's usual appearance. With both TK and Devimon being eerily silent, Kari quickly asked, "TK, are you alright?" At the sound of his name, TK turned around, and Kari once again saw the darkness in his eyes that had been present in his apartment earlier. However, as soon as he met her eyes, his eyes brightened and he exclaimed, "Kari, you're alright!"

Kari just rolled her eyes. "Of course I am. I've just been standing here the whole time. It's not like I need to be defended from standing still, do I?"

TK just chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was having a hard time getting this whole Dark Digivolution thing to work, so I just tried picturing the worst thing I could imagine to get the emotion right. So, I sort of imagined my life without you." Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he quickly added, "After all, without Mom, Dad, or any of the DigiDestined, my life would really suck, wouldn't it?" Davis looked like he was ready to call TK out on the obvious fact that he had singled Kari out and only added the rest as an afterthought, but Devimon quickly came to his partner's rescue.

"Wow, this body is really awkward. Seriously, why are my arms so long? I can practically touch my toes without even bending over!" The childlike enthusiasm in his sentence sharply contrasted with the deep, stereotypically evil voice with which he spoke. "Still, I guess the claws do come in handy, and at least the torn wings won't stop me from flying." With this, he flew up a few feet in the air before continuing to speak. "So, TK, do you think we'll be fighting soon? I'd hate to waste this transformation." He said this in a much colder, more serious tone, indicating that while most of his personality was identical to what it was as Patamon and Angemon, he still had some much darker traits. TK was about to answer, when the world suddenly went dark.

"Well, looks like the Child of Hope has already started dabbling in the dark powers. This ought to be fun to watch. I guess that does work his way around my Black Requiem, but I really have to wonder if he can handle it. After all, these boys had an awfully hard time when the darkness came after them!" Lilithmon had flickered into existence a short distance away, flanked on either side by BlackGreymon and BlackGarurumon, with Matt and Tai blankly standing behind their partners. Devimon could only smirk at the new challenge. "Well, looks like that human saying 'Speak of the devil' actually works. Let's see how this witch likes it when the darkness turns against her!" Lilithmon just giggled. "Well, look who thinks he's a big shot. You couldn't keep up with me in your wildest dreams. Why don't you just content yourself with my new toys?" With that, BlackGreymon and BlackGarurumon snarled and charged toward the DigiDestined.

* * *

Author's Note: I know I said I wouldn't update anything today, but I've got a half hour break before company gets here so I thought I'd start updating. While I have a bit of time, I'd like to thank WarBard for offering some criticism of my writing style. I apparently have been trying to tell too much through dialogue, and the pacing of the story has been suffering because of it. Just looking at this chapter alone, I can see they have a point- it's almost all dialogue, and all of that dialogue is pretty much exposition. Not really the best style to tell a believable story, but I'm sort of stuck with what I have. I don't think I could change the style quickly, so I'm just going to keep updating the chapters as they are written now. Since this is the first story in a planned trilogy, I will try incorporating all suggestions to make the story easier to read when I start writing story 2 shortly after I finish updating this one. Maybe when I finish the trilogy I'll come back to rewrite this in a better style. It will be a lot of work, but I'd rather know what I have to improve than assume my storytelling is great when it isn't. So, if anybody else would like to leave any comments they think could help me or any questions they have, feel free to do so either in a review or a PM. Next chapter, we get back to some more action!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

Ken couldn't help but smile at the newest turn of events in the battle. Sure, he had a fire-breathing dinosaur and a wolf charging at him, but this was possibly the best thing that could happen to lead to a quick victory. After all, Lilithmon hadn't brought any more reinforcements, and she was sending the two Digimon they wanted to save right at the one Digimon they had that had a chance of saving them. Sure enough, Bucchiemon jumped in front of the two charging Champions and launched his Heart Beam attack, stopping them in their tracks with a white beam of light. However, despite her apparent defeat, Lilithmon just smirked. "Oh look, the Kindness child thinks he's so clever and has taken his friends away from me. It's almost like he thinks his little Armor form's light is enough to handle my darkness. Clearly, a demonstration is in order. Black Requiem!" As darkness blanketed the immediate area, Lilithmon continued her taunting. "Seriously, what part of 'Demon Lord' don't you understand? I'm an extremely high level Mega Digimon. Your Armor form is what, equivalent to a Champion? He might be able to stop these two on his own if they were actually doing this themselves, but I'm pulling the strings here. If you really want to stop them, you have to beat me first. Of course, even if you manage to beat me with your three Champions and three Rookies, these two here would just run wild without me holding the leash. I guess your only hope of victory is reverting them to Rookie or lower and then defeating me. Not likely to happen."

Now it was Davis's turn to start smiling. "First of all, I think your counting is a bit off. Just because we only have three Rookies and three Champions now doesn't mean we can't get more. Second, I have to admit, you are right about one thing: we'd need a miracle to defeat you as we are now. Luckily for us, we're the DigiDestined. Making miracles is what we do!"

As he said the other five DigiDestined used their Digivices to channel energy towards him, resulting in five beams of light blasting into Davis's D3. After a quick "OW" from the electric shock, Davis triumphantly shouted "Golden Armor Energize!" Using the newly-formed Digimental of Miracles his partner had received, Veemon Golden Armor Digivolved to Magnamon, and the bright light radiating off of the newly Digivolved form actually dispersed the darkness that Lilithmon had just summoned, returning the clearing to its regular daytime appearance. Celebrating the success of this aspect of his plan, Davis began cheering loudly, only to notice Lilithmon looking distinctly unimpressed. Sure, he knew Lilithmon was still just as powerful, but why didn't she look worried at all? They had just pulled out a Digimon that could fight on an equal footing with most Megas and taken away the darkness on top of it, but Lilithmon just looked bored instead of worried.

"Oh, quite the flashy entrance there," she deadpanned. "You actually managed to get around my Black Requiem to get a decent fighter. But just because you got rid of the darkness I brought in with my attack doesn't mean you got rid of the effect of the attack. Besides, I'm not one of those girls who will do anything you want just because you give them something shiny." Smiling, she added, "But I guess if you would really like me to, I could turn him into a nice ring. Empress Emblaze!" Her latest attack summoned a giant, roughly hand shaped being that flew towards Magnamon and grabbed him as it continued to fly away from the scene of the battle. "Now that that's taken care of," Lilithmon smirked, "what were you saying about you beating me?"

While Davis was clearly deflated at the quick removal of his partner and trump card, Mimi snapped and shouted at Lilithmon. "It doesn't matter if you're a hundred times stronger than us! We'll never give up as long as you keep us away from our friends!" Lilithmon rolled her eyes at this. "Okay, you get points for spunk, but you obviously are lacking in the brains department. It doesn't matter how much you want to beat me. Between the six of you, you have Devimon and Gatomon for Champions, Bucchiemon as a fairly low level Armor form in terms of combat ability, and then Palmon and Biyomon as rookies. You won't be able to win."

This time, it was Sora who countered Lilithmon's statement. "And you won't be able to get away with stealing my boyfriend. You know something? We've faced opponents we had absolutely no chance of beating numerous times. Do you want to know what Etemon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters all had in common? There was absolutely no way for us to beat any of them when we fought them. They all mopped the floor with us, only for us to come right back and beat them in the end. We've always won when the world was hanging in the balance. And I'm going to enjoy personally showing you what defeat feels like!"

At this, Mimi and Sora's Digivices both reacted, causing their partners to start glowing with a dark purple light. After the glow faded, Biyomon had grown into the same shape as Birdramon, only with an entirely black body instead of the usual fiery orange. Palmon, however, looked entirely different from any of her other forms. She now resembled a tree stump, with four root-like legs, and two pairs of arms: a large pair that resembled branches growing from the sides of her face and a smaller pair growing beneath them. While Sora and Mimi were excited at having successfully Dark Digivolved, Lilithmon just sighed. "Well, this might be a little more interesting. With Saberdramon joining your ranks, you might have enough firepower to take out BlackGreymon and BlackGarurumon if she works with Devimon, Gatomon, and Bucchiemon. But do you really expect Woodmon to help out? Let me show you exactly why evolving Palmon was a bad idea." With this, she snapped her fingers, and BlackGarurumon and BlackGreymon both launched their attacks at Woodmon. Between the blue flames of Howling Blaster and the orange flame of Nova Blast, Woodmon quickly caught fire before reverting to Palmon. Luckily, reverting back to her smaller, less flammable form allowed Palmon to escape further harm as Mimi ran forward and scooped her partner into her arms. Lilithmon then continued her conversation as if nothing had happened. "And that is why you never send a wooden creature against a fire-breathing wolf and dinosaur. But you're starting to bore me. How about we start this battle now? BlackGarurumon, BlackGreymon, attack!"

With this latest order, the two brainwashed Digimon resumed their previous attack, only for each to be interrupted by two of their former teammates. Saberdramon and Devimon both faced off against BlackGarurumon, while Gatomon and Bucchiemon were left with BlackGreymon. Both fights were relatively even, with BlackGarurumon being unable to hit his two aerial opponents but still able to use his agility to dodge a swarm of flaming purple feathers courtesy of Saberdramon's Night Roar attack on top of repeated dark energy blasts courtesy of Devimon's Death Hand attack. BlackGreymon was having a slightly better time in his fight, as Bucchiemon's Heart Beam could only immobilize him for brief periods of time, and while Gatomon's small size and quick reflexes prevented her from being harmed, her Lightning Paw attack only had enough power to slightly knock back the dinosaur instead of doing any real damage. Clearly, both of the brainwashed Digimon had received a power up in addition to their new dark forms, since they could stand equally with two Digimon of their same level when before they had only been slightly stronger than the others.

As if to prove this point further, BlackGreymon launched a Nova Blast directly at Gatomon, who jumped to avoid it. However, this played right into the hands of her enemy, as she was left open for attack with no way to dodge. Seeing her predicament, Ken immediately had Bucchiemon revert, grabbed Davis's D-Terminal, and shouted "Digi-Armor Energize!" However, it seemed to be too late, as BlackGreymon had landed a Great Horns Attack on the feline Digimon, sending her crashing into the ground. He then quickly launched another Nova Blast, threating to incinerate the small Digimon. Gatomon could only gasp at her impending doom, when another streak of fire suddenly rushed in front of her, absorbing the previous attack. When the fire died out, she saw her savior was a butterfly-like Digimon with a black body that was covered in armor that resembled Flamedramon. Despite never having seen this form before, she instantly recognized who had saved her.

"Thank you, Wormmon," she said. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be out three of my lives right now."

"No problem," he answered in a much more confidant voice that she had ever hear Wormmon use, even as Stingmon. "But you can call me Shadramon now. I Armor Digivolved using the Digimental of Courage. Now, what do you say we turn this fight around? Flash Buster!" Once again Shadramon cloaked himself in flames and rushed towards BlackGreymon. The butterfly Digimon scored a direct hit, knocking the dinosaur Digimon off of his feet. With BlackGreymon now fighting an uphill battle, Devimon decided it was time for him to gain an advantage in his fight as well. After briefly talking with Saberdramon, he flew down and landed near BlackGarurumon, seeming to lose the advantage he had possessed while fighting from the air. Seeing his target now in range, BlackGarurumon rushed forward and attempted to land his Freeze Fang attack, only to have his charge to be stopped by the sudden appearance of Devimon's claw springing from the ground directly in front of him. Before BlackGarurumon could react, Devimon had hit him with his Touch of Evil attack, using the exact same technique the evil Devimon had used to brainwash Leomon back when the DigiDestined first arrived on File Island. Devimon then began to shout, "Saberdramon, NOW! I can't make him go against Lilithmon's control. At best, all I can do is hold him for a few—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a black blur suddenly crashed into BlackGarurumon, with Devimon only barely avoiding the Mach Shadow attack of his ally. The black wolf was knocked backwards, finally skidding to a stop below Lilithmon, where he was joined a second later after BlackGreymon landed after taking a combined hit from Shadramon's Serrated Screw and Gatomon's Lightning Paw. The next second, a giant explosion of light flashed in the distance, signifying Magnamon had unleashed his Magna Explosion. Sure enough, the golden Digimon flew into the clearing after a brief pause. With all six good Digimon gathered together and Lilithmon's two puppets down for the count, Davis was sure they were one step away from winning this battle. However, he noticed Lilithmon still bore an amused expression, despite the army she was now facing.

"Wow, watching you kids fight for your friends so hard sure brings back memories. I haven't seen that kind of caring since the first time I met the humans who had been called into the Digital World ages ago. Still, I can't help feeling that something's missing- maybe you just aren't trying hard enough? I want to really feel the excitement, and this last go around just didn't do it for me. How about we kick it up a notch? Boys, do your thing."

With this last command, Tai and Matt snapped out of the stupor they had seemed to be in for the entire fight and pointed their Digivices towards their partners. Their Crests and Digivices both began to glow, but not in a way any of the DigiDestined had seen before. Instead of their entire Crest lighting up its usual color, they turned black, with the only light coming from the orange symbol of Courage and the blue symbol of Friendship. Likewise, the Digivices changed color, but instead of the usual orange with blue buttons for Tai and blue with silver buttons for Matt, both Digivices were now black, leaving only the buttons to change colors, with orange for Tai and blue for Matt. BlackGreymon and BlackGarurumon both started glowing dark purple, and before the glow faded, Lilithmon once again began taunting her opponents.

"I noticed you seemed to not be taking this fight seriously when it was only Champions, so I thought we needed to try Ultimates. It took a long time to be able to manipulate the feelings of those two to the point where I could get them to activate their Crests, but eventually I managed to get Tai to feel recklessness and Matt to be the type of friend who only is willing to go with others for what they could do for him. That's the kind of attitudes I needed, and I think waiting until now was the most exciting way to show off my new trick. After all, nothing says excitement like a bone monster and a werewolf. I'd like to introduce you to SkullGreymon and ShadowWereGarurumon!"

At this, both dark glows faded, revealing the new forms of the controlled Digimon. Matt's partner was once again a black version of his usual form, but a chill went down the backs of all the DigiDestined at the sight of Tai's partner. After all, everyone present had had an encounter with SkullGreymon, and those encounters had ended only when the berserk skeleton had run out of energy on his own after outright destroying anything in his way. Now, they had to face the same monster in addition to another creature whose power must be close to equal before they even had a chance to take the fight to Lilithmon. Seeing the dejection on the faces of her enemies, Lilithmon had to include one more quick comment. "What, no happiness that your friends managed to unlock a new form? I guess you aren't quite the friends you all thought you were. And bad friends really should be taught a lesson. SkullGreymon, ShadowWereGarurumon, attack!"

* * *

Yolei sighed. She had thought going to find this Minervamon and figuring out how to stop whatever Lilithmon was planning would be something important she could contribute to without having to hurt anybody, but since Centarumon had taken her into the labyrinth that served as the temple he was guarding, she had done nothing but sit and watch Izzy as he typed away on his computer. He had been spending the last ten minutes trying to decode some DigiCode written on the wall in front of him next to a creepy symbol that looked exactly like a giant eyeball. Centarumon had explained that this wall held the key to starting the "Trials of Olympus" or something like that, but he had been unable to translate the DigiCode for them, as it apparently was a different language from the code in the remainder of the temple. So, Izzy had simply pulled out his laptop, sat down, and disappeared into his own little world. Now, as somewhat of a computer enthusiast herself, Yolei could understand the thrill of trying to crack through various encryptions, but when she offered help and was repeatedly ignored, she began to lose her patience. Joe and Cody had contented themselves with discussions about their school lives, as they had no idea how to handle this complex of a computer issue, but Yolei had a hard time sitting still. She was about to try talking to Izzy again when he started talking himself.

"This is strange," he mused. "I managed to translate the first few lines, but for some reason, every time I start working on the rest, my computer just displays an error message. It's as if the text is actually encoding for a firewall of some sort. By trying to access the system, we get booted out."

"Don't get too stressed out," Joe said. "You've never let us down yet. Maybe you and Yolei can both take a crack at it next. Anyway, what do you have translated so far?"

"It really isn't too helpful," Izzy said. "It says 'Those who seek the twelve must first pass the ten divine trials. Conquer the ten guardians and the way shall be revealed.' So, assuming the twelve mentioned refers to the Olympos XII, we have to go through ten trials to meet them. However, I can't get a translation for where we have to go to start these ten trials, so knowing what we have to do doesn't help us know how to do it."

Yolei fumed. "So basically, this wall is taunting us? Well, between this freaky eyeball staring at us and the untranslatable code, I think I ought to show this wall exactly how I feel!" With that, she proceeded to do the least logical thing imaginable, and punch the wall directly in its eye. However, instead of the expected feeling of meeting a very solid object under her fist, Yolei's punch passed right through the eyeball, and in her surprise she was unable to contain her momentum and passed entirely through the eye. After an instant of shock, her friends were quick to follow her through the hidden entrance and crossed into the other side just before the eye-shaped portal closed behind them. Instead of the stone labyrinth they had been in before, they now found themselves on a red stone cliff overlooking a pool of lava. Cody looked around before he spoke. "Well, I think we all owe Yolei for finding a way past that code wall. And judging by our new surroundings, I think it's safe to say we are no longer in Centarumon's temple. We may have just started the ten challenges."

"You're welcome," Yolei said. "Though I'm not exactly sure if us starting these challenges is a good thing. We have no idea where we are. Even if we manage to get past these ten guardians we'll have to conquer, we have no guarantee that we'll even be able to get back in time now. We may have just—"

She was interrupted by a sudden explosion on the cliff below them. Before anybody could ask what had happened, they were answered by a sudden disturbance in the lava pool. A pair of white wings slowly rose from the lava, quickly followed by two black arms that belonged to a Devimon and the helmet of a Kabuterimon. Yolei and Cody both paled. They both had experience fighting with this particular Digimon. Back in their first adventure, Ken had created the same creature by somehow combining the data of numerous Digimon. That time, it had been strong enough to easily defeat Halsemon, Digmon, Raidramon, Nefertimon and Pegasusmon without taking any damage. Now, they were once again facing off against the mutant monstrosity, but there was no chance of Magnamon coming in to save the day.

"Uh, guys," Joe stammered, "what is that Digimon, and why is it attacking us?"

Izzy was the first to reply. "Right, I guess you wouldn't know about this. Short answer, he's an artificial Digimon called Kimeramon made from the data of numerous other Digimon. He's a purely destructive force, and we need to Digivolve right away if we want to win." Even this short answer proved to be a bit too long, as Kimeramon launched another Heat Viper attack towards the group, forcing them to scatter. Luckily, they had managed to avoid getting hit by the green energy burst that had melted its way through the rock where they had been standing. As soon as they were sure they were safe, the DigiDestined all reached for their Digivices. Hawkmon, Tentomon, and Gomamon all Digivolved to their Champion forms, but Cody decided to Armor Digivolve Armadillomon into Digmon. Seeing as their foe was an extremely powerful Ultimate, Izzy had Kabuterimon Digivolve again, and MegaKabuterimon blasted his foe with a Horn Buster, knocking him back. Joe was about to have Ikkakumon Digivolve as well, but Cody grabbed his arm.

"Listen, Joe, I'm not sure if Zudomon is the best option for this fight. Kimeramon will probably spend most of this battle flying over us and his Heat Viper attack will probably reduce the amount of ground we have to stand on. We need to focus on ranged or aerial fighters, and we can't have Zudomon using his Vulcan's Hammer attack here. Sure, the spark attack is a good distance attack, but we can't afford to have him destroy the cliff and send us into the lava. We'll have to rely on Ikkakumon and Digmon to provide long-range support while Aquilamon and MegaKabuterimon engage him directly. I know we aren't using our strongest forms, but we won't beat him by relying on strength alone. He's far too powerful for that."

As if to prove Cody's point, Kimeramon decided to use that moment to send Aquilamon and MegaKabuterimon flying back into the ground. Joe merely nodded and said, "Okay, I see your point. Ikkakumon, try to hit him from a distance. It might not damage him much, but you never know until you try." With this, Ikkakumon launched his Harpoon Torpedo, joined by Digmon firing his Gold Rush. Both attacks scored direct hits, but even the projectiles that didn't hit Kimeramon's metal helmet seemed to do no damage. Seeing the futility of their current attacks, Yolei decided to change tactics.

"Okay, Cody and I have fought this guy before, and I've seen enough to know that as it currently stands we don't have enough strength to beat him with standard attacks. Unless anybody can pull off a miraculous Digivolution, we'll have to think outside the box. Izzy, have MegaKabuterimon get in close. If he can get into close combat, he should be able to avoid getting hit by Heat Viper since Kimeramon would hurt himself if he used it. MegaKabuterimon will need to push him over the land and keep him there, since the next part of my plan won't work if he's flying over lava. Cody, I'll need you to revert Digmon. Just trust me on this, okay? Now let's go!"

Since Yolei was the only one who seemed to have a plan, the others agreed to follow along. Ikkakumon launched a few Harpoon Torpedoes at Kimeramon, which did no damage but did serve to obscure the beast's vision with clouds of smoke. By the time the smoke had cleared, MegaKabuterimon had flown in with his Wild Scratcher attack, which Kimeramon was forced to counter with his Scissor Claw attack. As the two opponents grappled, Aquilamon grabbed the newly reverted Armadillomon in his talons and took off into the sky. Cody started to protest, but Yolei cut him off, and just told him to have Armadillomon Digivolve when she signaled it. Sure enough, MegaKabuterimon managed to push Kimeramon over the rocky ground, and Yolei shouted out, "NOW!" At her shout, Aquilamon dropped Armadillomon, who started plummeting to the ground. Finally understanding Yolei's plan, Cody used his D3 to Digivolve Armadillomon, causing his falling partner to drastically increase in size and weight. Ankylomon curled into a ball and started spinning as he fell directly towards Kimeramon and MegaKabuterimon. Seeing this happening, MegaKabuterimon quickly released Kimeramon and flew away. Before the Composition Digimon could react, Ankylomon's spinning form released a quick combination of a Tail Hammer to its head and a Megaton Press attack to drive it into the ground. The DigiDestined and other Digimon all gathered around the newly-made crater, only to see Armadillomon splayed out over an unconscious Kimeramon. While the added momentum of the fall clearly allowed Ankylomon to finally injure Kimeramon, it had apparently injured him as well.

Armadillomon weakly mumbled, "Well that was fun. Can we never do that again, please?" before starting to crawl out of the crater. However, before he could make it out or anybody could go down to get him, the entire scenery suddenly changed. Instead of standing in a rocky area complete with lava, the DigiDestined and Digimon now found themselves in a pink, almost spongy hallway leading to another eye-shaped wall. Luckily, Kimeramon was nowhere to be found, so the Digimon all reverted to their base forms before walking towards the end of the hallway. From their experience in the labyrinth, they were not surprised to find that this particular eye also served as a portal to a new area, and found the hallway replaced with the interior of a cathedral, complete with stained glass windows on the ceiling, rows of wooden pews, and a giant organ in the center. Unsure of what to expect, the DigiDestined and their Digimon all stayed together in the center aisle, when a voice began to address them from behind the organ.

"Welcome, worthy seekers of the twelve. You have successfully passed the test of Kimeramon in the Flame Area. Now, you stand ready to face me, in the test of the Light Area." As the speaker flew around from behind the organ, he was revealed to be a familiar orange horse with golden wings and gold armor on his hooves and face. "Are you prepared to—?"

"Pegasusmon," Yolei interrupted, "what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with TK and the others? And how exactly did you even manage to Armor Digivolve without your Digimental?"

Pegasusmon actually fell a few feet in shock at the fact that this traveler was addressing him so familiarly. Trying to cover this lapse, he landed before addressing Yolei. "I'm sorry to inform you that I have no idea who you are talking about. While I have observed your battle with Kimeramon, I have not met you until just now. But enough of this small talk. Prepare for the test of Light to begin!"

Pegasusmon spread his wings, but before anybody else could react, Cody shouted out. "Stop this! We can't just destroy Pegasusmon. He's a good Digimon who isn't trying to hurt us. I know we sometimes have to fight to save ourselves or others, and Kimeramon attacked us first so we had to fight him, but we can't just kill an innocent Digimon just to get what we want. Besides, even though he isn't the same Pegasusmon, I don't know if I could ever bring myself to hurt TK's partner, and that's what this would feel like. There has to be a better way to get to the Olympos XII than this!"

Pegasusmon was once again taken aback by the outburst of one of his visitors. "Why do you refuse the test? I have not even stated it yet. While many of the tests do involve battle, mine is a test of speed and wisdom. And even if my test did involve combat, you needn't worry about harming me or any other being you encounter. We are guardians who exist solely to administer these tests. We are not truly Digimon, but merely a representation of data given form and life by the Olympos XII. When we are defeated, we merely fade away until those who are taking the tests either succeed in their quest or give up, and then reform along with our respective areas. Your desire to protect life is admirable, but you need not worry in here. Now, as a reward for your caring heart, I shall warn you about what lies ahead in my test. Outside this cathedral is a world entirely composed of light. Your task is to locate me and catch me, but be warned: as the Flying Hope, I have connections that allow me abilities beyond those of any normal Digimon in this world. Hope shall always be wherever there is Light, so how can you pin me down to one location when I can be anywhere?"

Yolei suddenly smirked and started walking toward Pegasusmon. "Well, sounds like you've got a really special connection with the forces of Light, don't you? Let me guess, you don't live alone here. I'm guessing there's a really special Nefertimon that you just love to spend time with, isn't there?"

The winged horse started shuffling his hooves along the ground, looking everywhere but at Yolei, and, if Yolei had to guess, blushing before stammering out a reply. "How did- I mean, it's not really, uh…" He was cut from his stuttering from a sudden pat on his back. Yolei was standing right next to him, arm on his back with a large grin on her face. "Don't worry about it. If you spent some time together with my friends TK and Kari, you'd know all about the whole Hope and Light interaction. After years with them, I've pretty much developed a sense about the whole 'hidden feelings' thing that goes on. But enough about my relationship radar. I believe I just passed your test, didn't I? After all, I located you inside the cathedral, and I just now caught you. So, what comes next?"

Izzy, Joe, and Cody all had to laugh at her solution to this last test. Only Yolei would think that she could possibly distract a Pegasusmon by talking about a Nefertimon, but then again, only Yolei was so determined on being a matchmaker for Kari and TK that she could pick up on the little hints signifying hidden feelings in others. After all, she had years of experience observing how much Hope and Light danced around with each other, so probably could see it in the Digimon that was an embodiment of Hope. Pegasusmon was clearly flustered at having been defeated so easily, but he quickly tried to recompose himself. "Well, I guess you have passed my test. However, I must warn you, the other tests will not be easy. In total, there are ten areas, each housing a guardian you must defeat in order to progress. You may clear the areas in any order you wish, but the tenth area must be the Darkness Area, as the portal to that realm will only open after you clear the nine others. As it stands, you have cleared two areas, those of Flame and Light. Only eight elements remain. After passing a test, you shall return to this area, where you may recover before continuing. You may now choose your next test."

As he finished explaining this, seven eyes appeared spread out across the room. The DigiDestined all looked around, but before deciding what to do next, Izzy quickly asked Pegasusmon a question. "Excuse me, but I'm a bit curious as to how this whole test thing is based. Are we teleported through various worlds as we try to pass all the tests, or are we just sent to different areas of the same world? Also, when we warp through space, do we warp through time as well? We need to talk with Minervamon as soon as possible, so I want to know if time flows normally across the worlds or if all of them occur at different rates."

Pegasusmon thought for a few moments before speaking. "I am sorry, but my knowledge of the tests is limited, so I may not explain exactly how they work. I believe time flows normally between the worlds, so if you wish to pass as soon as possible, I would recommend you split your group and take multiple tests at the same time. As long as nine areas are cleared, the portal to the Darkness Area will open, and then you may all take the final test."

Receiving this new information, Joe decided to take charge. "Okay, since time is of the essence, we should split up in order to finish this as soon as possible. However, judging by the fact that Kimeramon was the first test and the other tests should be harder, I don't think going four different ways is the most efficient option. So, I think we should split into teams of two, and take the tests separately. Now, we don't know exactly what we're facing, so I think the best teams would be Izzy with Cody and Yolei with me. That way, each team not only has access to an Ultimate, but also one marine Digimon and one aerial Digimon. So, we won't be at a huge disadvantage fighting enemies that aren't limited to life on land. One other thing: I know we have to rush, but if your Digimon is hurt, take the time to rest here in the Light area before taking the next test. One of the most important things they teach in medical school is that you can actually cause more harm than good trying to work too hard. Sure, as a doctor you need to be able to help around the clock, but as a human you lose effectiveness without food or sleep, and being tired can cause you to kill a patient instead of saving them. So, are we ready to go?"

The DigiDestined and Digimon all nodded before joining their respective teams. As Pegasusmon stayed behind in the cathedral, the others went through two different portals, determined to pass the tests on the other side and eventually gain access to the Olympos XII and find a way to save their friends and the world.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, now we're finally into the main part of arc 2 of this story. The entire thing with Sakkakumon and the Trials of Olympus was something that came to me once I realized I couldn't come up with good Dark evolution paths for Joe and Izzy, and thus they needed something to keep them busy while everybody else was working on fighting Lilithmon. I came up with four tests originally, but since I was watching Frontier while writing this and wanted to include elements from that in my story. One such element was the character tests the Legendary Warriors had to go through while fighting Sakkakumon, which I thought would be good to adapt into ten tests on the way to talk to the Olympos XII. So, I had to find six more Digimon based on Greco-Roman mythology, try to put them in an appropriate elemental sphere, and slightly restructure the tests to account for that. Well, I hope you are still enjoying the story, and please leave any questions or comments you have in a review or PM!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't know all the parties that own Digimon, but I'm certainly not one of them.

* * *

Mimi just could not believe her horrible luck. Why wouldn't the fighting ever stop? It seemed that every time they thought they beat an enemy, they just came back more powerful than ever. Etemon had been absorbed by the Dark Network, then came back to get blasted by MetalGreymon, then came back again as MetalEtemon before getting killed by SaberLeomon. Myotismon had also survived his death twice to come back stronger than ever. Now, it seemed this whole villain immortality was extending to Tai and Matt's Digimon, too. They had had them on the ropes and were about to win, and then they just Digivolved to Ultimate. With that, they were once again completely outmatched. Lilithmon was fighting Magnamon herself this time, but it was clear from the fact that she was winning without using any of her attacks that she really didn't care about this new development. Meanwhile, the other battles were not going well at all. SkullGreymon had hit Shadramon with his Curse Breath, completely taking Wormmon out of the fight and leaving Kari fighting alone against her brother. The other fight, if possible, was going even worse. Devimon and Saberdramon had been safe when fighting BlackGarurumon, but as soon as he Digivolved they lost that advantage, shown when ShadowWereGarurumon had leapt into the air and taken Devimon out with just one hit of his Shadow Claw attack. This left Saberdramon alone, but she was not doing well. She had managed to withstand further claw attacks by countering with her Black Saber, but it was clear that each clash was damaging the Champion level without harming the Ultimate in the slightest. With Palmon, Wormmon, and Patamon all unable to keep fighting, they were down to three Digimon all fighting opponents much stronger than themselves.

As if to demonstrate the vast difference in power, Lilithmon seemed to grow bored of just fighting Magnamon and decided to continue taunting the DigiDestined. "Oh please, is that really all you are capable of? After all the times you've triumphed over insurmountable odds, have you really become this weak in a time of peace? If I had known this was all you were capable of, I wouldn't have spent so much time getting Tai and Matt here to work out their Crests. You have no idea how long it took to convince Tai to rush into situations where his friends would get hurt without caring. He fought me well enough that I couldn't even force him to attack until just now. I had been hoping to get you as soon as you all came back, but his tenacity earned you a few hours. Matt was a bit easier. I just had to trap him in his memories of when he confronted Cherrymon and selectively erase any contrasting emotions. Of course, he still fought, but the darkness had already gotten to him before, so he couldn't resist as easily as Tai could. In the end, he embraced my power."

Hearing this, Sora couldn't contain her anger anymore. "Don't you dare talk about Matt like that! You think you're so great because you force others to do your bidding? Please, it took you hours to get Tai and Matt to corrupt their Crests. If you really wanted to see something special, you should see what they would do to protect the ones they love. And believe me; I know a thing or two about love- the good and the bad. But here's the thing," she said, as her crest started to turn black, "if I have to become jealous and possessive to save my boyfriend from the thrall of some she-devil, I have no problem doing it. Now get your claws out of his head! He's mine, and nobody else can have him!" The red heart symbol on her Crest glowed brightly in stark contrast to the blackness of its surroundings, and her the buttons on her Digivice turned red as the rest of her Digivice became pitch black. A purple glow surrounded Saberdramon as she hovered in the air over ShadowWereGarurumon. The large bird was obviously shrinking down within the glow, but no other details could be made out. However, before the glow even faded away and Saberdramon's new form was visible, ShadowWereGarurumon was blasted off of his feet by a flurry of glowing projectiles. It wasn't until they had hit the ground that the nature of the projectiles was revealed: they appeared to be nothing more than black feathers.

"Oh please, I can't believe you thought I wouldn't attack until after everyone could gawk at my new form," Sora's partner taunted. Saberdramon had shrunk down from a large phoenix into a humanoid crow warrior wearing purple armor. She landed on the ground and drew her two golden swords before assuming a ready stance. However, she quickly spread her wings and shouted "Feather Flare!" as soon as ShadowWereGarurumon sprang to his feet, once again hitting the werewolf with a barrage of feathers. "This fight is almost too easy. Since I Digivolved to Karatenmon, I can read your heart to know exactly what moves you are ready, or not ready, to make. Now, be a good boy and go bring your master over to Sora, or I might be forced to put a shock collar on you." Hearing this, ShadowWereGarurumon snarled and ran at Karatenmon, clashing his Shadow Claw against her Harmony Swords. The two then began a heated contest of claw against blade, with ShadowWereGarurumon's ferocity keeping Karatenmon from being able to land any lasting hits despite her ability to read his heart.

Seeing the newly Digivolved Ultimate keeping up with the evil Digimon and berating herself for losing hope so easily, Mimi went up next to Sora in order to congratulate her on being able to Dark Digivolve to Ultimate. "Wow, Sora, looks like you went from being the last to figure out your Crest the first time around to being the first this time. I mean, I know you were actually the fourth person to Digivolve to Ultimate, but TK, Joe, and I all had moments where we really learned our Crests when we rejoined the group, and Kari could use her Crest right after she got it." Mimi suddenly winced as Karatenmon managed to land a hit on ShadowWereGarurumon's eye and then let out a menacing cackle. "Still, I think you might want to rein in Karatenmon a bit. I don't know about you, but I don't think it's right that Biyomon can go from being so sweet to being sadistic like she is now."

Sora responded to the suggestion with a glare. "What, does it matter? That mangy animal is standing between me and that man-stealing witch. If he wants to get in between me and my boyfriend, it's his own fault if he gets hurt." There was such malice in her voice that Mimi had a hard time recognizing it as coming from her friend, who usually couldn't speak without a motherly, loving tone. "Sora, what's gotten into you? You know Matt and Gabumon are like brothers. If you tear apart his family just to be with him, do you really expect—OW!"

Mimi's lesson was unfortunately interrupted in the form of Veemon flying into her and knocking her over. Luckily, she had managed to avoid being hit by his horn, but the impact still knocked the wind out of her and sent her crashing to the ground. TK, Ken, Kari, and Davis all ran over to her, with Davis collecting the very woozy Veemon while the other three worked together to carry Mimi away to safety. By the time Mimi had gathered enough breath to ask what had happened, she was a fair distance away from the action: close enough to still see and hear most of what was going on, but far enough away that she would no longer be in the direct line of fire. Ken, TK, and Kari had all gone back to get their partners, as Patamon and Wormmon had regained enough strength to insist they would be fine if TK and Ken went to go help Mimi. Davis was left with the daunting task of explaining exactly what had happened to Mimi.

"Well," he started, "do you remember how Lilithmon was fighting Magnamon without using any attacks? Turns out, she's strong enough to take Magna Punches and Magna Kicks and dish out just as much hurt. She hit Magnamon so hard he reverted to Veemon and crashed right into you. Are you okay? I know Veemon's got a thick skull, so I'm hoping he didn't do too much damage."

"I think I'll be fine," Mimi answered, her breath still coming in gasps, but not nearly as badly as it had been earlier. "But I'll complain about my bruises later when I have a bit more breath in me."

Seeing as she had time for an attempt at humor, Davis knew she was going to be fine. However, this small victory didn't change the fact that the DigiDestined were even worse off now than they had been at the start of the fight. While they had Karatenmon on their side as an Ultimate, she was being a little too brutal and Sora a little too supportive of that brutality to know for sure if they were actually on their side or not. Even if Karatenmon didn't turn on them, they only had her and Gatomon left fighting against ShadowWereGarurumon, SkullGreymon, and Lilithmon. Sure, Karatenmon had the upper hand in her fight, but Gatomon was only lasting this long in her fight because SkullGreymon had been spending most of his time either standing still or simply trying to step on the smaller Digimon. However, after Karatenmon had started beating ShadowWereGarurumon, Lilithmon seemed to lose a bit of control of the skeletal dinosaur, causing him to kick Gatomon away from him before finally using his dreaded Dark Shot attack. However, instead of launching the attack at Gatomon, he instead launched it directly towards TK and Patamon. With Patamon still unable to Digivolve due to his recent defeat and Karatenmon too busy torturing ShadowWereGarurumon to bother worrying about the safety of anybody other than Sora, only Gatomon was in position to save the two. She bravely stood between the two and the incoming missile, yelling for TK and Patamon to run before preparing to stop the missile by whatever means necessary. TK was forced to watch as Kari's partner prepared to sacrifice her life in order to save him, torn between running away to help Patamon or trying to grab Gatomon and then trying to outrun the missile, as he didn't want Kari to experience what he had to go through with Patamon's death.

However, before TK could decide, he saw Gatomon glow with a purple light, and then a wave of bats flew out to meet the missile. The wave of bats collided with the missile and caused it to harmlessly explode in midair. After the explosion died down, TK beheld Gatomon's new form, and couldn't stop himself from smiling a little bit. His prediction had been completely accurate, as Gatomon's new form was the very same Fallen Angel Digimon that had been Angewomon's nemesis in their catfights. However, seeing as how Karatenmon had become all too brutal after Dark Digivolving for the first time, TK wisely decided to wait to say "I told you so" until after the fight was over. Sure enough, LadyDevimon began fighting immediately. She used her Black Wing attack to transform her arm into a spear, and then flew in to engage SkullGreymon at close range where he wouldn't be able to hit her with his Dark Shot attack. Deciding to put some distance between himself and the brawl, TK grabbed Patamon and started running towards Kari in order to thank her for saving him. Before he could form the words, however, he noticed she was currently kneeling on the ground in obvious pain. Immediately forgetting about anything else, he sprinted to close the distance between the two. When he finally arrived at her side, he skidded to a stop and placed his hand on her shoulder. When she didn't react to his touch, he worriedly asked, "Kari, are you okay? Answer me!"

Kari finally seemed to notice his presence, and her eyes actually brightened at seeing him. She started to say, "TK, you're o—" before she collapsed into a coughing fit. As TK tried helping her, he noticed her Crest had gone from its usual pink coloring to black, with only the pink star glowing in the center. In addition, her D3 had changed, with the center portion turning from white to black, creating a much greater contrast with the pink grips, which were now glowing brightly. Deciding getting Kari away from the fight safely was the top priority, TK picked her up off of the ground and began running towards where Mimi, Davis, and Ken were all gathered. Of course, between carrying a barely-conscious Kari and having a similarly weakened Patamon clinging to his head, he did not make nearly as good of time as he normally would have, and before he managed to get halfway toward the group Lilithmon's dark figure materialized before him. Patamon bravely launched a Boom Bubble at the Demon Lord, but the only reaction he got for his effort was a bemused look.

"Not that I don't give you credit for trying," Lilithmon spoke as if she were a mother explaining the obvious to a particularly young child, "but you'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to do anything to me. In your current state, you won't even be able to mess up my hair. Maybe if you were at full strength that attack would be enough to dishevel my robe, but unless you Digivolve that's the farthest you'd ever get. Now, how about we go for—" Lilithmon interrupted herself with a sigh before striking out with her right arm, catching LadyDevimon's Black Wing attack on her Nazar Nail. "Bit of advice, girlie. Next time you want to launch a sneak attack, come at your opponent from behind, and try to be quiet about it. Did you honestly expect me to see and hear you coming only to think 'gee, she's trying to impale me: I should just stand here and take it?' If I had wanted to, I could have easily disintegrated you by using my Nazar Nail attack instead of just blocking your attack. However, I want to see exactly how well the Child of Light handles the powers of Darkness. It's definitely not an easy transition. And since getting rid of you gets rid of that connection, I guess I'll just have to keep you around for a while."

"Yeah, well, I guess it's just my lucky day then," LadyDevimon countered. "You don't want to destroy me, but I have absolutely no reason not to destroy you. You stole my partner's brother, turned his partner into a monster, and then he went and tried to destroy my partner's best friend. When you disrespect my partner and her friends, you disrespect me. And you know what they say about the fury of a woman scorned. And since I know how well this next technique works from using it to beat SkullGreymon, I guess you can be its next victim! Now, Darkness—"

However, before LadyDevimon could finish calling her attack, Kari let out a shriek of pain. Immediately stopping her attack, LadyDevimon flew down to TK and Kari and asked, "Kari, what's wrong? You have to tell me so I can help you." TK never thought a LadyDevimon could speak with such a caring tone, and Kari seemed to recover to the point where she was no longer crying out. However, before anything more could be done, Lilithmon gave an audible sigh. "Well, I guess she isn't quite ready to handle the darkness. It's a shame, really. I sensed some great potential in her. But, it looks like she's just getting hurt by all the dark energy she's putting out for you to use. So, I guess this puts you in an interesting predicament, doesn't it? You can't protect your partner without attacking me, but you can't attack me without hurting your partner. So what are you going to do?"

LadyDevimon paused for a second before laughing. "So, any time I use dark energy for attacks, I end up hurting Kari? Well, I guess I'm just lucky to have a bit of experience fighting without attacks, aren't I? I'm going to make you sorry you ever messed with the DigiDestined. BINTA!"

LadyDevimon flew up to Lilithmon and slapped her across the face, and it took a second for TK to realize LadyDevimon had actually called out the name of one of her attacks, which happened to be a simple slap, instead of insulting Lilithmon. The two fallen angels started a cat fight that put any of Angewomon's and LadyDevimon's fights to shame, but TK decided getting Kari to safety was much more important than watching the two go at it. Bringing her over to where everyone was gathered around Mimi, he set her down gently and looked at the state of the battle. Patamon, Veemon, Palmon, and Wormmon were all too injured to fight, but they would recover eventually. With Kari and Mimi also hurt, the DigiDestined only had LadyDevimon fighting without her partner and while Karatenmon and Sora formed the only complete team. Luckily, Lilithmon's side had also suffered losses with SkullGreymon having reverted to an unconscious, black version of Agumon. Then, Karatenmon appeared to grow bored with torturing the wounded ShadowWereGarurumon, finally forcing him to revert to a black version of Gabumon with a final Harmony Swords attack. Karatenmon then joined the fight against Lilithmon and Sora began running towards Matt, but at this moment, Lilithmon began flickering with static, shortly followed by Matt, Tai, and their partners. Sora's outstretched arms closed around the space where Matt had been a second ago, but was too late to stop her boyfriend from being taken to the Dark Ocean yet again.

With the enemy no longer in the area, the DigiDestined and their Digimon all went to regroup at Sora's location. However, Sora didn't seem to notice their presence and was engaging in a long, profanity filled rant against the absent Lilithmon. Mimi went up and placed her hand on Sora's shoulder, only for Sora to quickly spin around and start yelling at her instead, forcing Mimi to take a few steps back.

"What, do you want to steal Matt from me too? It's obvious you don't want me to have him since you didn't help in the fight at all. I think it would be best to just get rid of all of the competition so he'll never leave me again. Karatenmon, take her out!" Karatenmon drew her swords, but before she could make a move LadyDevimon had flown in and grabbed her arms. "Uh, guys, can you please snap Sora out of whatever funk she's in? I don't know how much longer I'll be able to maintain my LadyDevimon form, since Kari is starting to put out a lot less energy, and I'd really hate for Karatenmon to get turned loose on all of you when you only have some exhausted rookies to protect you."

While everybody agreed that this would be the best course of action, only Mimi had any idea of how to best get about this. She walked back up to Sora and slapped her across the face. Sure enough, the shock of the slap cut off the dark energy she had been using, turning her Crest back to its usual coloration and causing Karatenmon to shrink back down into Yokomon just a second before LadyDevimon also reverted to Salamon. Sora groggily rubbed her cheek before looking around and noticing she was surrounded by her friends with no sign of Lilithmon, Matt, or Tai. Unsure of what had happened, Sora began questioning her friends.

"Why is everybody looking at me like that? And what happened in the fight? Last thing I remember, Saberdramon was fighting ShadowWereGarurumon, and then I started yelling at Lilithmon. Did she do something to knock me out or something? And where is—Yokomon!"

Sora finally saw her partner, and quickly ran to where the small pink flower was laying on the ground. Even though Yokomon wasn't conscious, she was at least breathing, so Sora returned to the group and asked what exactly had happened. Mimi decided to be the one to fill her friend in with the details.

"Okay, you want the short version? You went into a massive rant at Lilithmon and got Saberdramon to Dark Digivolve to Karatenmon, who was basically a crow samurai. She fought ShadowWereGarurumon in a long fight, but she was basically toying with him. Anyway, while those two were going at it, you were getting a bit too jealous and possessive, and wanted to kill ShadowWereGarurumon just because he was between you and Matt. I almost got you to snap out of it, but then I got interrupted in the form of Lilithmon knocking out Magnamon and turning Veemon into a Mimi-seeking missile. Anyway, while that was going on, Gatomon Dark Digivolved to LadyDevimon, beat SkullGreymon, and started fighting Lilithmon. Karatenmon beat ShadowWereGarurumon and then Lilithmon, Tai, Matt, Agumon, and Gabumon all flickered out of existence. You didn't take that very well, and almost attacked us before I slapped some sense back into you. Now, I'm a bit banged up, Kari is just about out for the count from the dark energy, and our Digimon have all seen better days. How about we head back home to get some rest?"

Due to the state of the Digimon and themselves, the DigiDestined all agreed that this would be the best choice of action. As they headed back to the TV to open a gate, they all couldn't help but feel like they hadn't accomplished anything other than wasting one of the few days remaining until Lilithmon's plan advanced to a point where they wouldn't be able to save the world. While they had unlocked four new forms, they had barely forced Lilithmon into a retreat, and there was no guarantee she wouldn't come back stronger than ever the next time. While they could benefit from a few days' rest, they all knew they would have to come back tomorrow and try again. With this thought in mind, a somber mood settled over the group as they headed back to Earth.

* * *

Lilithmon sighed as she felt herself get pulled back into the Dark Ocean. Daemon would only have drawn her back in order to keep the plan moving. Currently the plan only had two stages: ensuring all seven Demon Lords survived until such time as the Gate was ready and simultaneously attempting to capture the DigiDestined of Hope and Light to speed the process along. However, since she had never been in any real danger, Lilithmon knew that the reason she had been pulled back this time would fall under the category of Daemon believing she had endangered the plan by toying with the DigiDestined instead of capturing them right away. Sure enough, she materialized on the grey beach and saw Daemon in his snarling bestial form. Immediately, the Demon Lord of Wrath began to launch into an angry tirade.

"What is the meaning of this, Lilithmon? You had a simple task to complete: capture the DigiDestined of Hope and Light. Instead, you find yourself facing half of the DigiDestined, none of whom can Digivolve beyond Ultimate, and decide to play around with them long enough to lose the only backup you thought to bring? Need I remind you we need all seven Code Keys in order to unlock the Gate? If you lose the Code Key of Lust, you will have completely ruined all chance of success, and you better hope Lucemon finds you before I do, because I will ensure you are tortured for eternity for failing us!"

Lilithmon could only roll her eyes at her companion. "Sheesh, what's got your Code Key acting up? So I wanted to have a little fun, it's not anything to get angry over. Or are you just upset that I get to play with the humans while you're stuck talking with Barbamon and Leviamon? Envy is much more becoming of that crocodile than it ever will be for you."

"Why would I be jealous of some insignificant humans? The DigiDestined have never been anything other than a hindrance, and you insist on toying with them, allowing them to continue to interfere with our plans."

"For your information," Lilithmon countered, "my 'toying' with them has forced the Children of Light and Hope to turn to darkness in order to save their brothers. She has unlocked the Ultimate level while he has only unlocked Champion, but they seem to think the only way to stop me and release my control of Courage and Friendship is to turn deeper into the darkness. By giving them time to fight, I am causing them to willingly give in to the darkness. If they go too far, they'll join us of their own free will without having to get our hands dirty. I get to have fun watching the show, the children of Hope and Light turn to darkness, and we even get Love and Sincerity out of the deal. What's not to like? You won't think the DigiDestined are so insignificant once they join us." Lilithmon started chuckling before adding, "Then again, you didn't ever really appreciate humans anyway, not even when the Legendary Warriors saved your existence after you were smart enough to kill yourself with your own attack."

This last taunt caused Daemon to snarl and light his fists on fire. He swung them at Lilithmon's head, only stopping his Double Dust attack a millimeter in front of her shocked face. "If you think being destroyed by my attacks is so funny, maybe you'd like to try it. After all, we only need the seven Code Keys, not the seven Demon Lords. Why shouldn't I just kill you and claim mastery over your Lust?"

Lilithmon instantly regained her composure and sarcastically replied, "Wow, that's a great idea. I wonder why nobody else has thought of that. Oh that's right, they all have. Do you really think anybody would think twice about killing off either of us if they could get away with it? The only thing that stops people from messing with you or me is they know we'll back each other up. Since they'd have to take on two of us, they don't try starting a fight. Kill me off, and before you know it, Lucemon or Barbamon will try to do you in. The only thing that has kept the Seven Demon Lords together for all this time is the knowledge that any move against one results in the others moving against the instigator. And, of course, his Majesty wouldn't exactly like for his children to squabble, now would he?"

Daemon still seemed furious, but at least let the flames around his fists die out. Taking this as her cue to leave, Lilithmon began walking away, only to be stopped when Daemon once again began addressing her. "Don't take my lenience as a sign that you can continue playing around with these humans, Lilithmon. You may continue to use Courage and Friendship to turn Light and Hope, but be warned that you best have results by the time all seven of us gather. After all, Lucemon has quite the history of killing his allies at his own whim. You don't want to repeat the mistakes the Royal Knights made, do you? And while we are reminiscing about the good old days, I came across a rather interesting discovery while you were away."

Lilithmon turned to face Daemon, a look of curiosity in her face. "Oh, and what was that?"

Daemon gave an evil smirk. "Well, like you said, the Legendary Warriors proved to be valuable allies in the past. So, in trying to further strengthen our forces for the impending takeover of Earth, I decided to try to find the spirits and turn them to our cause. After all, we left all twenty spirits with Cherubimon right before we became Demon Lords, and for all of our old friend's qualities, he was never too great at executing complicated plans, so I knew I'd be able to track them down even after all of these years. I eventually managed to trail the data for the spirits to an abandoned castle on the Folder Continent, but when I arrived, all 20 spirits had already been removed. I managed to recover enough data to recreate two warriors, but they are only fragments and not the most stable of beings. It was obvious the spirits themselves had been there recently, but something must have removed them. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

Lilithmon took an instant to repress the guilty look that had flitted across her face before replying. "I don't have any idea who could have taken all the spirits. It's a shame- I miss having the Legendary Warriors fight alongside me. Those were certainly happier times, back when it was the three Celestial Digimon who watched over the world. Still, guess we'll just have to make due with Barbamon's army when we need additional forces. Besides, that greedy lout being forced to share ought to be fun to watch, don't you agree? Now if you don't need me, I'll be seeing if I can't whip these two boys into shape. After all, it's always more satisfying when your help takes it to the next level, and I think I might be able to pull out the Mega level with a bit more time."

Daemon gave an ominous chuckle. "Oh, I do know how much you enjoy playing with your toys. But just be careful you don't let your nostalgia for better days get the best of you, or I might just have to lock you back up in the light cage Cherubimon used on you. And if the spirits of the Legendary Warriors are locked away with you, who would come to save you this time?"

With this, he disappeared in a column of flame, laughing as he did so. Lilithmon felt a small part of her relax before realizing exactly what Daemon's overly dramatic parting meant. First, there was the issue with the missing spirits. While it was not as bad as it originally seemed, the fact that eight spirits were completely missing could be very bad news. Hybrid Digimon could be the most dangerous foes, as their lack of an official level meant it was almost impossible to predict their strength. However, a more pressing issue was Daemon's final statement, which was a clear indicator he believed her to possess at least a few of the spirits. While he hadn't confronted her directly, Lilithmon knew she would have to tread carefully around Daemon in the future- he had a short temper at the best of times these days, and her warning that he needed her alive for protection against the other Demon Lords applied to her needing him alive as well. She would have to be very careful from now on if she wanted to survive long enough for her plan to succeed.

* * *

Yolei, Joe, Izzy, and Cody all sat together in the Light area after clearing the last round of tests. While splitting up had allowed them to clear through the next three tests, it had taken a toll on all the Digimon. Yolei and Joe's first opponent had been an Arukenimon fought in an overgrown forest. Arukenimon had begun the fight by using sound waves to control insectoid Digimon, much like the Arukenimon created by Oikawa had done the first time the DigiDestined had fought her. Luckily for the DigiDestined, the only two insect Digimon they had were taking a different test, so it was a simple matter for Zudomon and Aquilamon to hold out against the swarm of Mothmon, Butterflymon, and Dokugumon and wait for an opening. This opening occurred when Zudomon used his Ice Lord Bump attack, sending out a wave of ice that froze many of the enemies solid. Given a bit of space, it was easy for Aquilamon to fly in and launch his Blast Rings attack at Arukenimon, cancelling out her sound based attack and forcing her on the defensive. While Arukenimon tried to counter with her Spider Thread attack, Aquilamon merely grabbed the webbing and used it to throw Arukenimon onto the ice from the Zudomon's last attack. The lack of traction cost Arukenimon dearly as she was unable to avoid being crushed by Zudomon's Vulcan's Hammer. With their fairly easy victory, they returned to the Light Area before Izzy and Cody had the chance. Pegasusmon had congratulated them on passing the test of Wood before offering to bring in food for the Digimon. The flying horse noticeably avoided looking at Yolei when a Nefertimon brought the food in, but the Digimon paid no attention and happily tucked into the meal before deciding to head on to the next test.

While Joe and Yolei had effectively breezed through their first test, Cody and Izzy had faced a much greater challenge. Their test had taken place in the digital equivalent of the arctic, complete with a driving blizzard and icy terrain that made the simple task of moving difficult. Unfortunately for them, this impediment was not shared by the guardian of this area, a giant werewolf that had no profile on Izzy's Digimon analyzer, but introduced himself as Lycamon. He was able to blend into the blizzard around him, making ranged combat all but impossible as Tentomon and Armadillomon wouldn't be able to see Lycamon until he was right next to them. Relying on close-quarters combat was the only option, but even that didn't go too well: the deep snow made it extremely difficult for Ankylomon to move, and Lycamon was capable of perfectly countering MegaKabuterimon's horn with his sword. Lycamon even outmatched MegaKabuterimon in their grapples, but he succeeded a little too well: he sent MegaKabuterimon flying into the ground, scattering the snow drifts and revealing an icy lake. Seeing this, Izzy immediately came up with a plan for victory and had Ankylomon break a small hole in the ice. Ankylomon quickly reverted to Armadillomon before Armor Digivolving to Submarimon and diving into the lake. MegaKabuterimon then lured Lycamon over the lake, and managed to keep the wolf busy while Submarimon used his Oxygen Torpedo and Submarine Attack to weaken the ice. Soon, the ice was too thin to support Lycamon's weight, sending the wolf sinking into the lake. Submarimon quickly left the water, and MegaKabuterimon used his Electro Shocker attack to send a ball of lighting straight into the waterlogged wolf. This weakened their opponent enough for MegaKabuterimon to finish him off with a Horn Buster attack, but even with the victory MegaKabuterimon reverted to Motimon, apparently as a result of being severely weakened by the constant beating and extreme cold. As they all returned to the Light Area, Izzy thanked his partner for maintaining his Ultimate form for so long despite all the damage, and promised a good rest as Pegasusmon and Nefertimon once again provided food for the DigiDestined and their Digimon. Pegasusmon congratulated them on passing the Test of Ice before informing them that Yolei and Joe had already passed the test of Wood and were currently taking the test of Earth. Seeing as it would take a little bit for Motimon to be ready to fight again, Izzy and Cody decided to wait until the others returned before continuing.

Motimon had returned to Tentomon by the time Yolei and Joe returned from their test with a battered Bukamon and Poromon in tow. In the Earth Area, they had squared off against Callismon, a Mega level bear Digimon. Using his Deep Forest attack, he was able to cause small earthquakes and send fragments of the many stone pillars dotting the landscape hurling towards Zudomon and Aquilamon. When Aquilamon tried flying over the carnage to attack from above, Callismon unleashed his Rodeo Bullet attack and fired a swarm of homing projectiles that hit Aquilamon and reverted him to Hawkmon. This caused Zudomon to become the main target of Callismon's abuse. The giant walrus warrior put up a valiant fight, using his hammer as well as his Horn and Tusk attack to try to counter Callismon's claws, but the effort was futile as Callismon repeatedly damaged Zudomon. Callismon was about to finish off Joe's partner when he was suddenly hit in the face by a large blast of wind, revealed to have come from Halsemon's Mach Impulse attack. Yolei had managed to Armor Digivolve Hawkmon while Callismon was distracted with Zudomon, and Halsemon now prepared to attack their foe again. Seeing himself once again attacked by a flying foe, Callismon launched a second Rodeo Bullet attack, only for Halsemon to charge straight through with his Tempest Wing. The tornado surrounding Halsemon served to deflect the bullets away from him slightly, allowing him to pass through them harmlessly and hit Callismon directly in the chest. While the attack did next to no damage, it served a greater purpose: the homing bullets had been following Halsemon the whole time, and now that he was immediately next to Callismon, it merely took a last second dodge to have the bear be hit with his own attack. While Halsemon wasn't directly hit by the attack, the ensuing explosion still weakened him enough to revert him to Poromon, but it did much more damage to their opponent. Callismon had taken enough damage for Zudomon to easily finish him off with a combination of Ice Lord Bump and Vulcan's Hammer before Zudomon himself was reduced to his In-Training form. With the fight finally over, the DigiDestined then returned to the Light Area, regrouped with Izzy and Cody, and shared their stories.

Seeing as Tentomon was ready to fight again and Armadillomon hadn't taken significant damage in their last fight, Izzy decided it was time to continue with the tests. After all, whatever Lilithmon was planning would be happening soon, and the entire point of this exercise was to figure out what that plan was and stop it before it started. While he fully expected to have to take breaks for eating and even sleeping if the tests were arduous enough, he didn't have the luxury of wasting time when he was fully capable of fighting. He wished Joe and Yolei luck before going with Cody through the next eyeball-shaped gate, hoping all these struggles would not be in vain.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, just moving right along with the story. We have the first Ultimate level Dark Digivolutions for the good guys in Karatenmon and LadyDevimon. With Gatomon having Digivolved, we've now seen every Digimon that will Dark Digivolve in this story do so. Of course, we aren't done seeing Digivolutions, Dark or otherwise. After all, Lilithmon now has every reason to push forward and reach for the Mega forms now that her closest ally Daemon is suspicious of her. So, I hope you keep enjoying the story, and feel free to review/message me with any questions or comments!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Digimon does not belong to me. If it did, there would be a Digimon called Entimon so all fanfic writers could scramble the name to create the phrase "not mine".

* * *

"You really don't need to walk me home, TK. I'm back to normal now, and it's not like I'm going to call up the powers of darkness again between now and when I get home. I'll be fine. Honestly."

TK just smiled and shook his head. "I know you'll be okay, Kari, but for once I'm sticking with you because someone's worried about me being on my own. Mom would flip out if she found out I was just going back to my apartment alone with everything that's going on. She got called away to work on an important story that could really make or break her career, and she almost turned it down to stay with me. Between Dad working his long hours and Matt being kidnapped, she wanted to be sure I would be safe with someone she could trust. It was all I could do to convince her not to ruin her career to babysit me, but she made me promise to stay in a house that actually had adults present. It was the best way to compromise so she would still let me help save the world. At least Dad was a bit more understanding that I had to do something, but even he told me how worried he was, so you know how bad it is. Not that he doesn't ever worry, but he never really talks about that stuff. Anyway, you better get used to having me around."

Kari chuckled. "Right, so Tai gets sent to the Dark Ocean and I still get stuck with a guy crashing on my couch at random times. But I guess it will help calm down my parents. They both went crazy when I told them Tai was gone after I was hospitalized. Mom thought the best way to help would be to constantly offer me some of her 'specialty cooking,' but that would probably be more useful in defeating Lilithmon by making her eat it than it will in helping me recover."

TK could only shudder at this. "Great, I forgot about that lovely benefit of staying with you. Any chance that she'll be willing to lay off on the cooking since you'll have a guest and everything?"

"Nope, sorry. I don't think my mom will ever view you as a guest. She's constantly joking about including you in all of the family pictures. I'm afraid you're stuck with the usual family meal plan as long as you're sleeping under our roof."

"Well, guess I'll just have to adjust my will then, won't I?"

With this, TK and Kari both started laughing, only for Kari to suddenly stop walking and freeze in the middle of the sidewalk. TK took a couple more steps before noticing she wasn't walking right next to him anymore, and turned around, a worried look instantly on his face. "Are you okay?"

Kari sighed before answering. "I just don't know, TK. The Digital World will be doomed unless we save it in the next week, our brothers have been kidnapped, and we're here joking about my mom's cooking. Are we really such bad people that we can joke around at a time like this?"

TK placed his hand on her shoulder before answering. "Kari, never think you're a horrible person. I think we can afford to joke around because I know we can win this. Call me an optimist, but I know we'll get Matt and Tai back in time to save everything. We've been in bad situations before, and we've always pulled through. Besides, if you were really a horrible person, would you have been willing to put and keep yourself in so much pain just to help others? How exactly did you manage to do that, anyway, with the whole 'light into darkness' problem?"

"Well, I always had viewed expressing the trait of light as being a generally good person- you know, caring about others more than yourself, always doing the right thing, and so on. Since that's pretty much what my Crest resonated with back when we were eight, I figured that was the closest thing I could come up with to embody those traits. So, I just needed to find a selfish way to care about others and do the right thing. Obviously, the right thing this time was save everyone by having Gatomon Digivolve, but I needed to find a way to make that seem selfish. I guess I ended up settling on doing it in order to impress—"

Kari immediately blushed as she realized exactly who she was talking to. Seeking to cover the pause, she quickly added, "Wait, I just realized something. Could you keep the whole 'hurting myself by calling on the powers of darkness' thing a secret from my parents? They already don't like the fact that I have to go off and put myself in danger to save the world, but they at least understand that I have to do it. If they found out I was the direct cause of that danger, though, I'm pretty sure they'd lock me in my room and run over my D3 just to make sure I'd never go back to the Digital World. They'd let me keep Gatomon, of course, but other than that I'd be completely cut off."

"Wow, and I thought my mom was strict. Sure, I'll gladly keep it a secret if you promise not to get so upset at yourself over your whole Dark Digivolving issue. If I had to guess, I'd say it puts you in pain because you just struggle against any form of darkness, including your own. When you fight yourself, you end up hurting yourself. So, if you can stop figuratively beating yourself up about your inner darkness, maybe it'll stop actually beating you up. And talking with you, I think I might have figured out a way to get to the Ultimate level myself. So, what do you say we hurry up and get to your place before Salamon and Patamon wake up so we can actually get the most edible food to ourselves?"

With this, TK grabbed Kari's hand and started running towards her apartment, almost dragging her for the first couple of steps until she started running alongside of him. She couldn't help but smile at the childlike innocence he still managed to portray as a high school student. He could go from a knight in shining armor one moment to an overexcited kid the next. Getting lost in this train of thought, she almost didn't notice the scenery flying by until she was suddenly standing in front of the door to her apartment. She began reaching for her keys, only to notice she was still holding TK's hand. How she had failed to notice that development over the past several blocks was beyond her, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of happiness well up inside of her. However, the moment ended all too soon when TK suddenly let go of her hand, and she looked up to see a massive blush on his face as if he too had suddenly realized what had happened. Feeling a mixture of disappointment and excitement over this, Kari opened the door, only to see a thick wall of black smoke. Rolling her eyes at her mother's latest failed cooking attempt, Kari held the door open and with a quick "After you" followed TK inside.

* * *

The next morning found Sora, Mimi, TK, Kari, Davis, and Ken all gathered together in the Digital World. While TK and Kari projected an air of optimism about succeeding in their attempts, they were met by negative emotions from the rest of the group. Mimi and Palmon were worried that they would continue to be useless in the upcoming battles, Sora and Biyomon were afraid of losing control of themselves and thus hindering the effort, and Ken was feeling particularly useless, as he wouldn't be able to get to a higher level than an armor form when Lilithmon made her next appearance. Davis's worries were on a much broader scale- while he was happy with the progress the team had shown in the last battle, there was still the simple fact that they were completely outmatched. The strongest fighter they could call on after Lilithmon's Black Requiem was Magnamon, but even he wasn't a match for the Demon Lord, who had beat him without ever fighting seriously. The sad fact was, with the current makeup of the team, Magnamon was the second strongest fighter they could call on in any situation, only surpassed by Imperialdramon. However, since there was no guarantee on the timing of Lilithmon's next attack, they couldn't just have Imperialdramon wait for her to appear, as he could run out of energy right before she decided to show up. The worst aspect of this problem was the fact that Lilithmon's forces would only get stronger over time, seeing as she already had Tai and Matt tapping into the power of their Crests. If Tai and Matt managed to unlock their Mega forms again, the DigiDestined would be facing three Mega level Digimon without any Megas of their own. They would have to find a way to even the odds somehow, but how?

Seeing the general negativity hanging over the group, TK and Kari decided to push past their own uncertainty about Dark Digivolution and try to cheer up the others. Kari decided to channel a little bit of her brother's leadership spirit and started giving orders.

"Guys, don't get so worked up over this. I know it looks tough, but we've managed to pull through difficult situations like this before. So, what do you say we start trying to perfect getting to the Ultimate level? I don't know about you, but I'd rather not wait to master this until Lilithmon shows up again. Though I do think we need to be a bit smarter about this then we usually are. Judging by what happened with Karatenmon and LadyDevimon, it will be hard to predict exactly how we are going to react to the darkness, so we should probably have our Digimon ready for a fight just in case. Between Bucchiemon's Heart Beam purifying the humans and Lillymon and Angewomon restraining the Digimon with their Flower Wreath and Heaven's Charge attacks, we should be good, but maybe we should have everyone else standing by at their highest level to fill in whenever somebody new needs to try Digivolving. Since I've already managed to do this once, I'll go first. You ready Gatomon?"

Gatomon nodded, and so the DigiDestined all prepared for the upcoming test of their ability. The other Digimon all Digivolved to Ultimate with the exception of Veemon and Wormmon who became ExVeemon and Bucchiemon. Seeing everyone else ready, Kari took a deep breath and thought back on yesterday's experience. After around twenty seconds of concentration, her D3 and Crest both started turning black, and Gatomon became enveloped in a purple glow before becoming LadyDevimon once again. This time, Kari didn't feel anything beyond a slight discomfort at the change, which was a much-needed improvement over the pain she had suffered last time. However, she still needed to make sure she could fully handle LadyDevimon in a fight, since she didn't want LadyDevimon to be limited in her attacks should Lilithmon arrive. Seeing TK giving her a worried look, Kari immediately smiled and addressed him.

"Before you ask, TK, I'm just fine. It feels a little weird seeing Gatomon look like that, but other than that there isn't any pain this time around. Still, that doesn't mean I've got this down yet. Last time, I got hurt whenever LadyDevimon launched an attack, so we should probably practice those before we call this a success."

LadyDevimon nodded before adding her opinion in. "Don't take this as a sign that I've gone evil and out of control or anything, but I think it would be best if I tried sparring with most of you at once. That way, I'll be forced to act like this is a real battle and get more practice in. So, what do you think?"

Lillymon, Garudamon, and MagnaAngemon all volunteered to spar with her, while ExVeemon and Bucchiemon stayed with the humans in case of wayward attacks. As the three fighters flew into the air, LadyDevimon started off the skirmish by transforming her arm into a spear and launching her Black Wing attack directly at MagnaAngemon, forcing him to counter with his Excalibur attack. However, as he was busy fending off her spear, LadyDevimon hit him directly in the face with her Binta attack, which wasn't particularly damaging but still succeeded in knocking the surprised angel out of the sky. LadyDevimon then turned and unleashed her Evil Wing attack towards Lillymon and Garudamon, but Garudamon countered with her Wing Blade attack, which proved as effective against the wave of bats as it had against Myotismon's Grisly Wing the first time he had attacked the DigiDestined. While LadyDevimon tried to push through the flaming bird with even more bats, Lillymon flew in and trapped her in a Flower Wreath attack before attempting to hit her with a Vicious Vine. However, LadyDevimon managed to break through her bonds and unleash a Darkness Wave directly at Lillymon, turning the fairy's own power into a deadly weapon against her. Luckily, before Lillymon experienced too much damage, MagnaAngemon healed her with his Magna Antidote. The Archangel Digimon flew back into the fight before calling off his allies, choosing to engage LadyDevimon in one on one combat. LadyDevimon tried to blast him with another Darkness Wave, but the attack dissipated on his beam shield before he countered with a Soul Banisher, hitting her with a blast of white light. When the light cleared, LadyDevimon had shifted back to Angewomon, who looked extremely confused.

"Wait," she asked, "did you just purify me? How the heck did you do that, and why haven't you done that before?" MagnaAngemon just chuckled before responding. "What, are you surprised that I have a few more tricks in my arsenal? I wouldn't be much of a fighter if all I had were a sword and the Gate of Destiny, would I? So, when I Digivolve from Angemon, I switch from my Hand of Fate attack designed to destroy evil to my Soul Banisher which banishes evil. As for why I haven't used it before, I haven't been able to use this form in most of our fights. If Lilithmon didn't have her Black Requiem, I would have been able to end this situation the first time around."

Angewomon just sighed. "Since you can't tell, I'm rolling my eyes at you. It doesn't matter what you say, I think you just like to keep things dramatic so you can show up at the last moment and get the big rescue. Anyway, your brilliant move just ended any chance of continuing this practice fight, so think about the situation before you use that attack next time." With this, a sheepish look crossed MagnaAngemon's face (at least the parts of it that were visible), and the Ultimates all flew down next to their partners. With LadyDevimon shifted back Angewomon, Kari's crest and D3 returned to their usual states, but even taking into account the fact that she was no longer being influenced by darkness, she seemed in much better shape than last time. Once everybody was gathered around her, Kari gave her report.

"Well, that went a lot better than I expected. I didn't feel any different than usual for the entire time. I could tell whenever LadyDevimon used her Darkness Wave attack, but it was more of a slight irritation than actual pain this time. TK, your advice really panned out on the whole 'not fighting myself' thing. So, I guess Gatomon and I have the Ultimate level down. Who wants to go next?"

While most of the group was excited at Kari's success in mastering the Ultimate level and were looking forward to trying to do the same themselves, Ken slowly walked away from the group. Davis quickly noticed his friend leaving and ran over to him.

"Hey, what's up Ken?"

"I just feel so useless. I don't have my Crest, so I can't go to Ultimate like those four, and I don't have the Digimental of Miracles to make Wormmon strong enough to fight either. I thought I could still be useful by having Bucchiemon help purify anyone who goes out of control, but MagnaAngemon can do a better job of it than I can. I just feel like Kindness is a useless trait right now, and I'm not sure if there's anything I can contribute to help."

Suddenly, Davis's face split into a huge grin, and he practically yelled, "That's it! You're a genius, Ken!" Confused as to what the fuss was about, everyone gathered around, only for Davis to immediately jump into his explanation. "Guys, this is perfect! Earlier, I was thinking about how we would really need some help fighting Lilithmon if she ever got Tai and Matt to unlock their Mega forms, and Ken just gave me the perfect idea. He mentioned he was missing his Crest, but why couldn't we just go and get it back? Sure, it will take a long time to find, given the fact that it was in the base before Paildramon blew it up, but if we manage to find it, Wormmon will be able to go to Ultimate just like all of you can. With 5 Ultimates and Magnamon, we should be able to handle two Megas at once since it took three Ultimates to equal BlackWarGreymon. Then, we beat whatever dark Mega form Agumon and Gabumon take and gang up on Lilithmon, and we should be able to win this!"

Ken just shook his head and started to protest. "Davis, I know you're trying to make me feel useful, but we don't even know if my Crest survived after my base exploded. Even if it did, do you really expect to find it by just combing the desert? It would take way too long, and we can't afford to remove Magnamon from the equation by forcing Imperialdramon to carry me a few miles on a pointless search."

However, Davis would not be deterred from his plan. "Listen, Ken, I know you think it's a pointless search, but we might very well need your Crest by the time this whole thing is over. Besides, with how fast Imperialdramon is, we'd be able to get back into the action fairly quickly. After all, the D-Terminals still work, so if Kari, TK, Sora, and Mimi need us they can just send us a quick message. And we managed to track down the Digimentals with our D3s, so why wouldn't the Crest be just as easy to find? Besides, maybe having Imperialdramon away from the fight is the best case scenario. He's stronger than Magnamon, and Black Requiem only stops us from Digivolving instead of reversing it. I'd like to see the look on Lilithmon's face when Paladin Mode comes swooping in and utterly destroys her. About the only negatives in this scenario are having less people around here for the practice sessions, but I'm sure these four can manage without us."

Finally seeing the logic in Davis's argument, Ken agreed to go along with the search for his Crest. After wishing everyone else luck on their practice, Wormmon and ExVeemon went through all the required steps until Imperialdramon was ready and then flew off in the direction of the desert that had once held Ken's base, hoping to find the Crest of Kindness and increase their chances of overcoming the upcoming struggle.

* * *

Izzy, Joe, Yolei, and Cody were starting to get fed up with all the tests the Olympos XII were forcing them to go through just for a chat. They could understand if there was some form of hidden meaning behind the tests to judge their character, but other than the test with Pegasusmon, all the tests had basically amounted to the same simple process: find Ultimate or Mega level opponent, get outmatched in power, come up with a strategy, and then beat the test just to repeat the process. The latest two to fall in line were Panimon and Hermmon, both Mega level Digimon. Izzy and Cody had fought the goat-like Panimon in a forest clearing that, according to Pegasusmon, was the Wind Area. While the Mephistomon look-alike was significantly more powerful than MegaKabuterimon, he ended up losing the fight due to his own arrogance- Panimon dodged most of MegaKabuterimon's attacks, but ignored Armadillomon, which allowed him to Armor Digivolve to Digmon and hit him with a Gold Rush. While the drills did no damage, they did serve as a lightning rod of sorts for MegaKabuterimon's electrical attacks, finally defeating the monster. Meanwhile, Joe and Yolei engaged in a much quicker battle against the wizard-like Hermmon. Fighting in a rocky plain amidst a perpetual thunderstorm, their opponent spent the entire fight attacking with lightning and fire while continually dodging attacks with his ability to move so quickly it appeared he could teleport. While Zudomon managed to avoid most damage due to his ability to dissipate electrical attacks with his horn, Aquilamon was not as lucky, and was reverted to Hawkmon. However, Hermmon decided this would be a good time to start gloating about his inevitable victory, and Zudomon's next attack missed him, but caused the rock spire behind him to begin falling. Hermmon failed to notice this, and was crushed by the falling rock, ending the fight. This caused both Izzy's group and Joe's group to finish their tests at approximately the same time, allowing for the current meeting in the Light Area.

Izzy was the first to voice his discomfort at the current situation. "Do you ever notice how the rulers of the Digital World always seem to make us pointlessly run around for a while before they do anything to help? When we first came here, they made us wander across Server to find the Crests that they hid instead of just telling us where they were, then they make us give up our power in a futile attempt to save themselves, and now we have to run through this lovely gauntlet of Greco-Roman mythology, probably for the sole purpose of allowing the Olympos XII to say 'Look, we're based on the Olympians!' Why can't the people who keep calling on us to save the world ever try to make it easier for us?"

While Joe and Yolei agreed with his sentiment, Cody tried placating Izzy. "Listen, this might be because I wasn't with you on your first adventure here, but I'm not so sure having to go through all of these problems is a bad thing. You needed to be in difficult situations to unlock the power of your Crests the first time, and Azulongmon helped us as soon as we freed him. Besides, if these Olympos XII really have the answer to just about any question, aren't you glad that most people can't get to them? It could really cause problems if someone like Myotismon or Daemon had access to that kind of power."

Izzy just sighed. "I guess I see your point, but I just get sick of getting yanked around all the time. Still, only three more opponents to go, so I guess we just carry on. Though I'll be sure to ask exactly what was the point of fighting these opponents, especially since they were created specifically for the purpose of being beaten. Then again, it would probably be best if that waited until after we find out exactly what Lilithmon is up to- saving the world does come before curiosity. So, how about Cody and I take the left portal, and then Joe and Yolei take the right one?" After everyone nodded, the two groups split off for the last time in order to take the last two tests between them and the Darkness Area.

Joe and Yolei emerged into a very peaceful looking meadow with a large lake in the center. Taking this to be a vast improvement over the usual desolate settings, they had a glimmer of hope that this opponent would be significantly easier than the last few Megas they had faced. No sooner had they both thought that, however, than a group of vines suddenly came to life and grabbed the two humans and the two Digimon, completely immobilizing them. Suddenly, a larger mass of vines began rising out of the ground in front of the shocked group, eventually revealing a vaguely humanoid creature with pale skin and plant material growing out of his shoulders. The strange appearance of this new monster was capped off by some form of purple armor with four eyespots. This new enemy started laughing maniacally before finally talking to his captives.

"So, even in this perfect setting, the virus of humanity seeks to destroy the serenity of nature? Still, I suppose I should be thankful that I get the chance to at least expunge this pitiful weed from existence. You have done nothing but inflict pain on your home planet and the digital world, and now you shall experience that pain tenfold. Prepare to face the wrath of Argomon!"

However, his villainous monologue proved to be the exact thing the DigiDestined needed to compose themselves and grab their Digivices. As soon as they had them, the managed to get Hawkmon and Gomamon to Digivolve, breaking free of the restraints as they suddenly grew to a much larger size. Shocked at the sudden escape of his prey, Argomon quickly had his vines release a large number of spores that rendered both humans unconscious immediately after Ikkakumon Digivolved again. A cocoon of vines then surrounded both humans and dragged them underground, completely separating the two Digimon from their partners. Before they could do anything more than gasp in shock, Argomon once again addressed them.

"Insolent wretches, why couldn't they just sit still and face their punishment? Still, perhaps this works out for the best. Now, I'll be able to slowly break them down for nourishment, just as they have slowly broken down their planet. All that remains is exterminating you two! Imprisonment!" With this, more vines suddenly shot out of the ground towards Zudomon and Aquilamon, forcing Aquilamon to fly out of the way while Zudomon attempted to repel the vines by smashing them with his hammer. However, there were too many vines, resulting in Zudomon being immobilized until Aquilamon flew in with his Grand Horn attack and severed all the vines holding the walrus hostage.

"Thanks for the save, Aquilamon. Still, I'm getting a bit sick of these vines. So, I suggest you get out of the way, because we're about to have a cold snap. Ice Lord Bump!" As Aquilamon briefly flew off of the ground, the entire area within twenty yards of Zudomon became covered in ice, forcing the vines to wither. However, Argomon's main body managed to avoid the blast, and he quickly growled out "Elimination Line", sending beams of light from the eye-shaped patterns on his armor. These beam slammed into the icy patch, deleting all of the ice and creating an explosion that sent Zudomon and Aquilamon flying. When they regained their footing, they launched a counterattack, with Zudomon launching a Vulcan's Hammer and Aquilamon going for a close-range Grand Horn. While Argomon managed to twist his body to avoid direct hits, he still lost a large cluster of vines anchoring him to the ground and one of his arms. He screamed in pain for half a second before breaking out into laughter, regenerating his arm and growing more vines out from his central body.

"Did you really think it would be that easy to harm me? You are in my element now. So long as there is plant life, I can regenerate any wound. I AM INVINCIBLE!" With this boast, he once again blasted an Elimination Line towards Zudomon, who barely managed to avoid it. Seeing his friend in danger, Aquilamon used his Blast Rings attack to blow a hole through Argomon's body and used the hole as a tunnel to quickly get back to Zudomon's side. Turning around, he unleashed his Stealth Quarrel attack, using hundreds of razor-sharp feathers to cut Argomon in multiple places. While it wouldn't keep the regenerator down forever, it should at least keep him busy and buy enough time for Aquilamon and Zudomon to come up with a strategy to beat him.

"So, Zudomon," Aquilamon asked, "do you have any idea on how to beat him? Normally I'd just Armor Digivolve to Shurimon and mow him down until he couldn't regenerate anymore, but since we'll need to beat him to get Yolei back, that isn't an option."

Zudomon just grinned before responding. "Actually, I was hoping you would have a plan. My usual battle style is to just hit things with my hammer until the problem goes away. Joe's more of the strategist than I am. It looks like my Ice Lord Bump is really effective, but with all his vines I'll never get close enough to completely hit him with it. I do have a longer range ice attack, but it's on a much smaller scale. If I want to hit him, I'm stuck throwing things and blasting him with lightning."

Aquilamon grew thoughtful. "Wait, that's it! He can regenerate any wounds we give him, but what if we fry him all at once? If we can knock him into that lake and fry him with your lightning, he shouldn't be able to recover in time to stop himself from being destroyed."

Zudomon chuckled. "So, we blast him until he falls into the lake and then blast him again? Sounds like my kind of plan. Now, what do you say we put it into action before he pulls himself together and blasts us?"

With the relatively simple plan in place, the two Digimon turned to face the regenerating Mutant Digimon. Zudomon started the barrage of attacks by flinging an icicle towards his foe in his Glacier Spear attack. The icicle exploded on impact, freezing a small handful of vines and sufficiently distracting Argomon so Aquilamon could get in close to him. Unleashing his Wave Laser attack, he succeeded in cutting Argomon's body from the mass of vines the Mutant Digimon was currently using as legs. Instead trying to inflict more damage, Aquilamon then used his Grand Horn attack to push Argomon towards the lake. However, before the Giant Bird Digimon could cover half the distance, Argomon retaliated by using the two clawed vines sprouting from his back to slash at his captor. This began a heated aerial fight, with Argomon using his claws and Aquilamon using his beak and talons to repeatedly slash at each other. Neither side was able to launch any special attack due to the proximity, so bodily attacks were the only option. Unfortunately for Argomon, this played right into Aquilamon's plan, as he finally succeeded in pushing his foe out over the water. He quickly plunged towards the surface, only releasing Argomon immediately before contact and then flying away from the lake. As soon as Argomon entered the water, Zudomon charged his hammer with electricity and slammed it into the water, resulting in a giant electrical surge throughout the entire lake. As the attack subsided, a cloud of steam rose from the surface of the lake, and Aquilamon and Zudomon finally relaxed.

"Well," Zudomon said, "that was fun. I'd like to see him regenerate when he's nothing but a pile of waterlogged ash!" However, Aquilamon suddenly grew suspicious. "Wait, if we just beat him, why haven't we returned to the Light Area? For that matter, why haven't Yolei and Joe been released? Something isn't right here."

Just as Aquilamon finished expressing his doubts, an earthquake shook the entire area, knocking Zudomon off of his feet. A shadow appeared beneath the surface of the lake, slowly rising up to reveal that Argomon had indeed survived. However, his appearance had changed- he had gained more armor, was much larger, and appeared much more muscular, with even more vines poking out of the joints of his arms and neck. The various eyes on his armor were now glowing bright yellow, and before Zudomon and Aquilamon could recover, he shouted out "Judecca Cannon!" and unleashed a massive explosion that Zudomon and Aquilamon were powerless to avoid.

* * *

Author's Note: Just want to clarify something a few sharp-eyed readers might have noticed in this section that doesn't really fit with canon. In _Digimon Adventure 02_, there is a scene that lasts about ten seconds that shows Ken still has his Crest right before the Daemon Corps invades. However, by the time I had re-watched that scene, I was too far along in my story with Ken not having his Crest that I couldn't change to match this one easily forgettable scene. So, we've reached one of the few times I won't be trying to keep my story in line with the canon material. It's a small change, but just imagine Ken lost his Crest back when Paildramon blew up the base. The Crest survived the explosion, but it was buried in the rubble. That's hopefully the only contradiction present for this story. Also, special bonus points to whoever can identify the inspiration for Argomon's behavior and abilities. Like always, feel free to leave any comments/questions!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: After my claim last chapter, I checked to see if Entimon was a real Digimon. It isn't. If I owned Digimon, I wouldn't have had to check.

* * *

Izzy and Cody were almost blinded as soon as they entered the next area. However, after the portal to the Light Area closed, they saw the exact reason for this: the area they had just entered was composed entirely of mirrors and polished stone. The entire realm was essentially a kaleidoscope of distorted reflections. Knowing this could prove disastrous in the upcoming battle, Izzy and Cody immediately had their partners Digivolve to their strongest forms- with it being so difficult to tell whether anything they saw was real or just an image, they couldn't afford to take any chances. However, their precaution ended up backfiring- in the glow of Digivolution, the DigiDestined were somewhat blinded, and in that time, MegaKabuterimon was suddenly punched backwards. When the light finally receded, the perpetrator was revealed to be a bull standing on its hind legs with a metallic press over its left arm. Izzy just groaned at the form of his enemy.

"Whose idea was it to put a Minotarumon in the middle of a realm made completely of mirrors? I've heard about a bull in a china shop, but this is ridiculous." As he said this, MegaKabuterimon recovered, and fired a Horn Buster, sending Minotarumon flying back and crashing into a mirror. As Minotarumon got up and charged back at the DigiDestined, hundreds of reflections raced ahead of him, preparing to attack. Focusing on the Minotarumon he was sure was solid, Ankylomon was suddenly blindsided by what he had thought was a reflection, but turned out to be another Minotarumon. Seeing this happen, MegaKabuterimon immediately attacked the closest image to him, only to have his attack shatter a mirror instead of an actual target. Being just as confused as the two Digimon were, Izzy immediately pulled open his computer in the hopes his Digimon Analyzer would be able to help identify the real Digimon from the images. However, what he found was less than helpful.

"Oh, this is just great. The only thing this will tell me is we're facing a group of Champion level Minotarumon and one Ultimate level Minotarumon. I guess the first one we fought would most likely be the guardian of this area, so if we destroy the Ultimate level, we should be able to pass the test without worrying about the Champions. Still, the Champion and Ultimate levels look identical, and with all these reflections, finding the real Ultimate level will be like finding a needle in a haystack. Unless…"

Cody was quick to interrupt his older friend's musings. "Izzy, now isn't the time to be impressed with the enemy. We need to think of a way to beat him fast, before Ankylomon and MegaKabuterimon start hitting each other when they randomly fire off attacks on the hope of hitting something."

"Alright, give me a second. I might be able to track down which one is the Ultimate level by pulling up his profile on the Digimon analyzer, using that to get his unique data, and then track it down here, but it will take me a while to write the program that could do it. We'll just have to hold out until then. MegaKabuterimon, Ankylomon, you'll just have to go on the defensive for a while. Don't attack anything until it touches you, and even then keep the attacks small-scale— we can't afford to hit each other. I just hope I'll figure this out in time…"

With that, Izzy once again sunk himself into his computer, leaving Cody to watch the battle and support the two Digimon. Now that they were focusing only on things that hit them, they were being much more effective at taking out the attackers, as the Champion level Minotarumon were easily dispatched with MegaKabuterimon's Wild Scratcher attack, while Ankylomon was capable of stunning his foes with the first hit of his Tail Hammer, opening up an opportunity to finish them off with a subsequent hit. Still, this didn't change the fact that they were only retaliating to attacks, and even with MegaKabuterimon and Ankylomon having some of the best defenses among all the DigiDestined Digimon, the repeated Bull Fighting Attacks were taking their toll. Even after taking out 20 of the opponents, there seemed to be no decrease in their numbers, leading a frustrated Cody to turn to Izzy and ask if he could work faster. However, the question died on Cody's lips as he saw Izzy's Crest starting to glow a bright purple. Izzy himself seemed oblivious to this, as he continued working away on his program, muttering to himself.

"…Alright, so I've managed to eliminate the Champion-specific data, meaning the only thing showing up on this map is the Ultimate and its reflections. If I had more time, I could analyze the reflective surface to find out how exactly it's replicating the data of the things it reflects, but I guess I'll have to settle for watching how they all move and analyzing the pattern…" Cody didn't really catch the rest of what he said, as he was distracted when MegaKabuterimon began glowing a bright purple. With the numerous reflective surfaces, Cody couldn't quite make out his new form, but at that moment, Izzy shouted out "He's 25 degrees to your right, MegaKabuterimon! Get him!" However, a much deeper voice then MegaKabuterimon answered, calling out "Mega Electro Shocker!" before unleashing a massive, glowing yellow ball of electricity that not only hit the targeted Minotarumon, but also every copy in that direction before finally crashing into a mirror. When the afterglow of the attack finally cleared, Izzy looked to his partner to congratulate him, but was surprised to find the red insect replaced with a much larger, golden one. His shell had opened to reveal his wings, and his horn had changed to only a single point, but he now had two additional horns growing from the side of his head. His arms had also changed, appearing more muscular and ending in vicious-looking claws. Izzy stared aghast at his partner. "Prodigious! You Digivolved to Mega!"

His partner merely nodded. "If I know you were so lost in your computer that you wouldn't notice me Digivolving, I would have shouted out the change. Seriously, it isn't that hard. I can just go 'MegaKabuterimon, Digivolve to… HerculesKabuterimon!' But anyway, thank you for allowing me to reach my Mega form. I can't wait until we save Agumon and Gabumon and they see they aren't the only ones that can do it anymore."

Izzy couldn't help but laugh at his partners antics. Even as HerculesKabuterimon, he was still the same person he had been as Tentomon. However, before Izzy could continue further, he was suddenly interrupted by another new voice.

"How quaint. The little insect actually thinks he's beaten this area. It takes more than defeating the pawns to win the game. Dark Reflection!"

As the voice shouted this, a yellow glow suddenly shone beneath HerculesKabuterimon, and before he could react, he was blasted from below by the same Mega Electro Shocker attack he had fired earlier. HerculesKabuterimon cried out in pain before he started glowing, shrinking back to Motimon. As Izzy ran to catch his falling partner, he tried to force himself to believe that this was all happening. For the first time in all the tests, they seemed to be facing more than one Digimon in an Area. On top of that, this unseen assailant had managed to hit their strongest Digimon with his own attack, taking him out of the fight in one hit. How could they possibly hope to defeat a foe that powerful with only a Champion?

* * *

Aquilamon slowly came around to find himself tangled up in some trees. He understandably began panicking at the sight of his leafy prison, but upon finding the trees were very much immobile he allowed himself to relax. Whatever Argomon's new form was, it clearly packed a massive punch. The only bright side to the current situation was the fact that he hadn't reverted from his Champion form yet, but with the damage he had taken from the last attack he was already reaching the point where only sheer will and determination to protect Yolei were keeping him going. If he wanted to have any chance of winning this fight, he would have to find Zudomon and figure out some way to beat their Mega-level opponent before time ran out. Since time was of the essence, Aquilamon knew he would have to forgo the stealthy approach, and immediately took to the air in search of his missing friend. After clearing the treetops, the giant eagle let out a gasp at what he saw. Previously, they had been fighting in some form of meadow, dominated with a giant lake, with vines limited only to Argomon's surrounding area. However, the scenery was now covered entirely in vines, with only a few trees like the ones Aquilamon had been tangled in to offer any variety. Aquilamon decided to spare any consideration for the scenery when he noticed a cluster of vines slowly moving towards where Aquilamon assumed the lake had once stood. Since Zudomon was nowhere to be found and was the only large object around that Argomon would care to absorb, Aquilamon quickly flew towards the bulge in the vines, only to be stopped by the sudden appearance of a smaller version of Argomon blocking his path.

"So, even in your current battered state, you refuse to acknowledge the new order? By siding with the flesh creatures, you have shown continued defiance to the true master of all dimensions. It is futile to try to escape me. I am Argomon- my growth is unlimited, and I AM EVERYWHERE!"

The last three words of his sentence were granted additional volume by the sudden appearance of three more copies of Argomon all growing up around Aquilamon. Determined to go out fighting, Aquilamon charged the copy in front of him with his Grand Horn attack, and was surprised when he actually managed to cut through the vines and easily fly through the other side. While Argomon could apparently grow various clones of himself, they clearly lacked the durability that his Ultimate form had possessed. Aquilamon was immensely thankful for this fact, as immediately following his escape from the four Argomon copies hundreds more grew all around him. Aquilamon was forced to repeatedly use his agility in addition to his attacks in order to try to get to Zudomon. Aquilamon knew the original Argomon would be much more difficult to take down than any of these copies, so he would need some help to win this fight. After flying around our through what felt like 50 copies, Aquilamon finally caught up to the bulge in the vines he dearly hoped was his friend Zudomon, only for another copy of Argomon to grow right over where his friend had been. Determined to destroy this last copy, Aquilamon flew in with his Grand Horn attack, only to crash off of his foe's armor before being smashed into the ground with a laughing "Brute Force!"

Aquilamon barely managed to hold onto his Champion form from the blow, no longer certain if the three copies of Argomon he saw were due to the plant monster's ability to grow duplicates or some side effect of the last impact. However, the images slowly blended together to reveal a gloating Argomon.

"I admire your persistence, even though you had no chance of succeeding. As a reward for forcing me to fight you myself instead of using my copies, I shall save you the fate of your hairy friend, and merely delete you instead of breaking you down for sustenance. After all, the growth has no need for perseverance. Judecca—"

However, as Aquilamon averted his eyes and braced himself for the upcoming explosion, he suddenly heard a piteous moan. Looking back at his foe, he noticed a rapidly expanding wave of ice stretching from the very center of Argomon and reaching the entirety of the creature's body. Knowing that this could be his last chance to defeat his foe and that Zudomon was doing all he could to help beat him from the inside, Aquilamon put everything he had into one final Grand Horn attack. Argomon's frozen body shattered on impact, but Aquilamon also felt the result of the blow. Aquilamon reverted to Poromon and fell to the ground, only to land on something considerably warmer than Argomon's vines had been. Managing to open his eyes, he saw that he was safely held in Yolei's arms, and managed to let out a soft "Yolei, can we never visit a salad bar again?" before passing out. Satisfied that her partner was at the very least alive and that he would be okay after a long rest, Yolei turned to where Joe was holding an exhausted Bukamon, only to find him just as mystified at Bukamon's explanation of what happened as "finally understanding how the sushi feels when it's wrapped in seaweed." Acknowledging that their partners' recovery was much more important than figuring out what had happened after they had been incapacitated by Argomon, Yolei and Joe returned to the Light Area. While both of their partners would be unable to fight for a long time, the DigiDestined were determined to push through the final test and finally come face to face with the Olympos XII.

* * *

As Izzy clutched Motimon and tried to prevent his partner from coming to further harm, he attempted to carefully analyze the situation. They had successfully eliminated all of the Minotarumon, but were now left facing an unknown enemy who was capable of somehow redirecting their own attacks. Of course, defeating him first required finding him, which Izzy had no idea how to do. However, this problem was immediately solved when the voice once again began to address the DigiDestined.

"I see thou hast been rendered speechless by my imminent victory. Perhaps it would be more entertaining to show thee the face of thy doom so that thou may know the true extent of despair?" As the voice said this, a figure suddenly emerged from the polished surface of the ground next to Ankylomon. This figure was shaped like a human wearing green armor, but where his face should have been was occupied by a mirror that only showed a set of lips. This mirror was matched by another mirror set in his abdomen and a mirror shield on each arm. Ankylomon swiftly launched his Tail Hammer attack at the stranger, only for him to instantaneously sink back into the ground at pop up 20 yards away. "Thou cannot hope to damage me here. I am Mercurymon. I hold the power of AncientWisetmon as the Human Spirit of Steel, and as such can use any reflective surface as a portal. As this area is composed strictly of reflective surfaces, I am all-powerful!"

Ankylomon growled at the latest opponent who thought they were unbeatable. Luckily, he had a bit of experience with defeating these foes, having fought against Ken as the Digimon Emperor, BlackWarGreymon, and then MaloMyotismon. While Mercurymon could instantly teleport himself to a different location in order to avoid attacks, he might still be able to be taken by surprise. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to act, Ankylomon began charging towards Mercurymon, swinging his tail from side to side and calling out, "Rhythmical Knock!" Thinking Ankylomon was trying to charge him directly, Mercurymon merely stood his ground and chuckled. However, he quickly stopped laughing as a pillar of earth suddenly erupted beneath his feet, sending him hurling through the air towards Ankylomon.

"Well," Ankylomon taunted as he ran to meet Mercurymon in the air, "looks like Mr. All-Powerful can't figure out that Rhythmical Knock is actually a ranged attack. Let's see how you dodge without any reflective surface to hide in. Tail Hammer!"

Cody cheered at his partner's quick thinking, but Mercurymon was not about to be defeated so easily. Angling his body in midair, he managed to position one of his shields between himself and Ankylomon's tail. To the surprise Ankylomon and the DigiDestined, the attack didn't break or bounce off of the shield, but it merely phased right into it. Before Ankylomon could react, Mercurymon placed his other shield directly in front of the dinosaur's face and sneered out "Dark Reflection." Suddenly, Ankylomon found himself bashed in the face with his own tail, and the impact sent him smashing him into the polished surface of the ground. Seeing this, Izzy could finally deduce how their opponent attacked, since in his haste to defeat Minotarumon, he had rendered his Digimon Analyzer temporarily unable to identify new Digimon.

"I've got it! That's how he could take out HerculesKabuterimon. His special ability is using his two shields as some sort of portal system. He absorbs attacks in one and sends them out the other. Between that ability and his ability to teleport, his defense is almost flawless. We need to find a way to beat him and fast- I know Ankylomon can take a lot of hits, but even he can't hold out forever."

Suddenly, Mercurymon appeared directly behind Izzy and Cody, making them jump when he started speaking to them. "Thou art mostly correct, child. My shields are known as the Shields of Irony. They allow me to absorb any attack and then reflect it out of either shield to defeat my foes with their own swords. However, knowing that shall not help thee survive this encounter!" As he said this, he swung his shielded arm directly at Izzy's head, only for Cody to intervene by grabbing it and throwing Mercurymon bodily into the nearest stone pillar. As Mercurymon groaned and got to his feet, Izzy could only gape at this latest turn of events.

"Did he really just try to take me out by hitting me with his shield instead of using an attack? And did you really just hurt a Digimon who can take out a Mega in one hit just by throwing him? Where did you learn how to do that?"

Cody just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you know how I've been teaching kendo lessons at the community center? They offered all of the volunteers some free courses in martial arts. Though that throw really was more designed to get Mercurymon off balance and give us a bit of space, not damage him. There's no way he's actually hurt—"

"Unless," Izzy interrupted, "he's so reliant on dodging or reflecting attacks that he hasn't needed to improve his durability at all!" Mercurymon disappeared into the pillar behind him, but Izzy wouldn't be dissuaded. "Since he hasn't needed to improve his durability, he probably would be easily defeated if he ever got hit with a decent attack. We need to find a way to track down where he's going to show up next, and then see if we can land one attack to win this."

Cody's eyes suddenly lit up. "Well, I have a way that might get us exactly that opportunity, but we only have one shot. If this doesn't work, we might have to fight Mercurymon ourselves- though judging by the fact that his power seems to be drawn strictly from his opponents, that isn't as much of a death wish as it usually would be. Ankylomon, you need to go back to Armadillomon. We'll need Digmon for this."

Ankylomon glowed as he reverted, and one "Digi-Armor Energize" later, Digmon appeared on the scene. However, as Mercurymon had disappeared, Digmon was unsure of exactly how he was supposed to destroy a non-existent target. "Not that I don't trust you Cody, but I don't see how this helps. Even if we have a plan to hit him, it doesn't change the fact that I'll never be able to find him."

Cody just smiled. "Well, we'll just have to limit the places he can appear then, won't we. I know this could backfire, but I'd say defeating Mercurymon and getting to the Olympos XII is worth a few lifetimes of bad luck, wouldn't you? Though before you start destroying mirrors, I need you to make sure when Mercurymon does appear, you get one arm in each of his shields. Got it?"

Digmon seemed to fully grasp Cody's plan, and immediately used his Rock Cracking attack to create giant fissures that destroyed the mirrored surfaces all around him. As Ankylomon's Rhythmical Knock attack had shown, the earth beneath the surface was not reflective, so by creating fissures, Digmon was slowly reducing the area Mercurymon could use. Seeing himself beginning to lose his advantage, Mercurymon quickly reappeared in front of Digmon, with each of his shields turning the drilling arms back on their owner and damaging the insect Digimon. However, Digmon suddenly smiled despite the pain, and called out "Titan Drill" before slamming his nose drill directly into Mercurymon's chest. Mercurymon could only cry out in shock before the spinning drill pierced through him, returning Motimon, Izzy, Cody, and an incredibly drained Upamon to the Light Area. Cody picked up his partner and apologized for putting him in such danger, but Upamon merely chuckled. "Don't worry about it. It's like your grandpa says, some problems can only be solved by using your head. I'll be fine after a bit of a break. If Joe and Yolei beat their test, our entire team can take the last test together. They won't stand a chance!" Laughing at Upamon's enthusiasm, Cody and Izzy began mentally preparing for the last test, which promised to be the most difficult test yet.

* * *

Mimi couldn't help but let a frustrated sigh escape her lips. After Kari's quick success mastering control of LadyDevimon on the second time Gatomon Dark Digivolved, she had hoped she would be able to master the technique and avenge Woodmon's quick defeat in the last fight. While Sora had taken longer to get Karatenmon under control, she had eventually managed to eliminate the sadistic tendencies she and her partner had both exhibited on their first time. However, as soon as Mimi took her turn, she kept failing to achieve anything. Try as Mimi might, Woodmon would only Digivolve to Lillymon whenever her Crest activated, which was not really the Digivolution she was hoping to see. Mimi had been repeatedly trying for the better part of an hour, only stopping whenever Palmon needed a bit of a break. They had been going at it for so long that the other Digimon had given up on maintaining their Ultimate forms, instead taking shifts where one was prepared to fight if anything went wrong while the other two rested just in case Lilithmon decided to show up and cause trouble. Currently, Sora was standing by with Garudamon while TK and Kari were off in their own world, most likely planning on how to best avoid the current situation when TK took his turn.

Sora noticed her friend's frustration and tried her best to console Mimi. "Don't worry about this so much, Mimi. You'll figure it out eventually. You have to remember, Kari and I had already used our Crests for Dark Digivolution once before, so it was easy for us. The first time we did it, we had the two advantages of being in enough danger to trigger a Digivolution while also being under the effects of Black Requiem, so Dark Digivolving was the only option. You don't have either of those situations in play, so it should be much harder. I'm sure TK will have the same problem, so don't worry too much about it."

While Sora had hoped this would cheer Mimi up, it seemed to produce the exact opposite result, with Mimi suddenly bursting into tears. "You can say that Sora, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm still next to useless! Look at the history of our fights: after Togemon beat Monzaemon, when have I ever done anything really helpful? TK always comes up with a last-second Digivolution to save the day, but not me. The only useful thing I ever managed to do is gather up some allies to help fight Piedmon. And that was only after burying my head in the sand, taking Joe away from the group, and getting Leomon killed by MetalEtemon. It didn't even really help, since MagnaAngemon, WarGreymon, and MetalGarurumon could have cleaned up that mess by themselves. Even last fight, I still only got in the way because I was useless enough to force my partner to Digivolve into a tree stump who happened to be extremely vulnerable to fire- she did the best she could, but why did I have to give her that handicap? I'm sick of just being dead weight on this team, but I can't even do anything to change that! Sora, are you even listening?"

However, Sora had stopped listening partway through Mimi's rant, as she had noticed Mimi's Crest and Digivice turning black followed by Woodmon glowing a deep purple color and growing to a much larger size. Mimi still remained oblivious to this fact, until she heard a new voice addressing her that reminded her strongly of her grandmother's voice.

"Mimi dear, it's obvious you believe what you just said since I just Digivolved to Cherrymon and that could only happen through the Crest of Sincerity, but believe me when I say that nobody else thinks of you as a burden to the team. Eventually, you'll see your worth too, but until then, can you at least accept the worth everyone else can see?"

Hearing this, Mimi spun around and saw her partner's newest form. Just like Woodmon, she appeared to be a tree, but had grown much larger and now had six arms, one of which held a cane that appeared to help her balance on her many root-like legs. Instead of just being a stump, she now had a full head of leaves, which included some beautiful cherry blossoms to give her a distinctly feminine appearance. Despite being a Dark Digivolution, her glowing yellow eyes gave off an aura of kindness instead of menace. As Mimi remained awestruck at her long-awaited success, TK and Kari both came up to congratulate her and Palmon on reaching the Ultimate level. After Mimi and Sora both got over their surprise, they managed to explain what had happened.

"It's really weird," Mimi said. "After Sora went pretty much insane and Kari was torn up inside, I was expecting Dark Digivolving to be a really bad experience, but I don't really feel any different. I mean, there is a slight change, but it feels more like being annoyed at a bad hair day than anything major."

TK couldn't help but smile at this. "You know Mimi, if writing the story of our adventures has taught me anything, it's shown me how much we've all grown up. Back when we first got to the Digital World, you would have viewed a bad hair day as a major catastrophe. And I have to admit, Cherrymon looks a lot better than I thought she would. With the way Matt described the Cherrymon that worked for Puppetmon, I was kind of expecting a garish moustache and a creepy accent. The flowers really are a nice touch."

Cherrymon's flowers grew a bit darker pink before she responded. "Gee, thanks TK. But if I really wanted to use this form to look good, I could always do something like this. Illusion Mist!" A thick mist suddenly formed in the area for a few seconds, and when it cleared, TK, Mimi, and Sora were shocked to see Palmon, Togemon, Lillymon, and Woodmon standing by four copies of Mimi in different outfits. Cherrymon then reappeared as the Woodmon and Palmon visions disappeared, and it was obvious Cherrymon was smiling. "With that attack, I can make people see whatever I want. It needs a bit of work before I can use it fully, though. I'm not quite sure how to get it so only enemies get confused while my allies can see everything normally. Until I figure that out, I should probably stick to using it as a delay tactic and fight with my other attacks. Speaking of which, would you mind if I tried those out too? You won't need anybody other than Garudamon for this- I don't really want to hurt any of you and you may as well save your energy."

As everyone else cleared a bit of space, Garudamon assumed a ready stance, even though she wasn't sure if Cherrymon would even be able to move quickly enough to provide a threat- as a tree, she looked extremely slow even ignoring the fact that she was leaning on a cane. However, Garudamon was caught by surprise as hundreds of vines suddenly shot out of Cherrymon's branches and tied her up tight before throwing her into the air. After letting out a rather undignified squawk, Garudamon managed to spread her wings and right herself in the air.

"I'm really glad you decided to underestimate me instead of a real opponent," Cherrymon said. "Still, you'd best be more careful with my next attack. And whatever you do, don't eat anything- you probably wouldn't survive if you did. Cherry Blast!"

With this attack, all of the flowers on Cherrymon's branches glowed red before firing a barrage of cherries as projectiles towards Garudamon. The bird Digimon countered with her Fire Hurricane attack, but instead of disappearing in the flaming whirlwind, the cherries either exploded or were deflected into the ground, where they left fairly large craters for their small size. Content that her job was done, Cherrymon calmly reverted back to Tanemon before hopping into Mimi's arms. As her Crest and Digivice returned to normal, Mimi congratulated her partner on maintaining control after her very first time going to Ultimate via Dark Digivolution. Tanemon, however, turned the compliment around and said she only managed to do so because Mimi hadn't lost herself in the process. Hearing her partner say this, Mimi immediately promised herself and her friends that she would try to see her contributions to the team in a better light, in the hope that she would never be a burden again.

* * *

Lilithmon couldn't repress an angry snarl. Despite having survived for an exceptionally long time within the confines of the Dark Area, she was having a much more difficult time finding happiness now that Beelzemon had crossed over from the Dark Area into the Dark Ocean. This put the total number of liberated Demon Lords at five, but since Lucemon's plan required them all to keep together with a relatively low profile, the Demon Lords were forced into another state of semi-imprisonment instead of freely crossing into the Digital World. When it had only been her and Daemon, Lilithmon had enjoyed the increased freedom, but with Beelzemon, Barbamon, and Leviamon all joining them, she had a harder time acting on her own: Leviamon was jealous that she was still allowed to go to the Digital World, Barbamon didn't want her to succeed since he wanted all the credit for success to go to himself, and Beelzemon merely wanted a chance to destroy the partner Digimon and absorb their data. Add the resentment of the other Demon Lords to Daemon's hints that he was aware of her secret actions, and she almost missed life where everyone had sort of accepted their lot of being imprisoned in the Dark Area. Just about the only positive in the situation was the fact that Matt and Tai hadn't been resisting her nearly as strongly as they had been before, which was allowing her greater control over them and their Digimon. Even this bright spot was bittersweet, as Lilithmon found she preferred the defiant versions of the Chosen Children to these easily manipulated puppets. Against her better judgment, she had even started referring to the two by name in her head, which could prove disastrous if the other Demon Lords found out. Luckily, she would be getting another chance to escape their company, as she was ready to launch another excursion into the Digital World. She opened a portal, only for Daemon to suddenly appear beside her in a pillar of flame and immediately close the portal.

"I'm sorry, Lilithmon, but I'm afraid we'll have to cancel your travel plans," Daemon sneered. "The two humans must go, but we need you to stay here. Belphemon should have arrived by now, but he seems to think his role in this mission is to sleep in the Dark Area. Since he won't cross over by himself, we need all five of us to open a portal and pull him out. I assure you, I despise doing this tedious work, but Lucemon has ordered it, since he requires six Demon Lords on this side to create enough of a disturbance for him to cross over. And if you'll remember, Lucemon does not take too kindly to failure."

Lilithmon sighed in defeat before suddenly narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean, the humans must go? If I stay, and I know enough about Lucemon to know it is foolish not to, you'll be setting them free. Without me controlling them, they'd either be mindless zombies with two rookies fighting against the DigiDestined who can all go to Champion or Ultimate, or they'd regain control of themselves and rejoin the other Chosen Children. Either scenario results in us losing a valuable chance to get at Hope and Light. Also, without me using Black Requiem, Hope and Light wouldn't have to use Dark Digivolution, and MagnaAngemon and Angewomon could easily purge the darkness within their brothers. Are you really going to throw away such useful pawns and remove the only option of speeding along Lucemon's plan?"

Daemon chuckled darkly. "I fear you overestimate your importance again, Lilithmon. After all, Lucemon has sent forth someone who can replicate all of your influence. He can handle fighting these beloved DigiDestined of yours. And before you deny that statement, why don't you take a look behind you?" Lilithmon prepared a retort, but it died on her lips as she saw who was standing, or more accurately floating, behind her. He appeared to be a robed man floating over a book, and with the two orbs in his hands, Lilithmon immediately understood who it was. The newcomer silently turned towards Tai and Matt before unleashing a dark beam of energy from his book that Lilithmon recognized with a cold sense of familiarity as her own Darkness Love attack. He then dragged the two DigiDestined into his book before closing the cover and disappearing from the Dark Ocean. Lilithmon turned back to Daemon, disgusted.

"I can't believe Lucemon trusts that bibliophile with this task! I've never believed that silent creep could be trusted. All he cares about is studying everything in existence, not achieving anyone else's mission."

Daemon snarled at this. "Are you questioning Lucemon? Besides, when it comes to being trustworthy and putting the mission first, I really don't think you have any right to question anybody else. Now, do you have any more insubordination to plan, or will you follow along quietly to bring in Belphemon?" Realizing she had no other option, Lilithmon followed Daemon to the island that served as the main base for the Seven Demon Lords in the Dark Ocean, and found herself hoping that the DigiDestined would be able to handle the newest incoming threat.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, who all thought Izzy wouldn't unlock any knew forms since he was off on a seemingly unimportant sidequest? It really wouldn't be fair to him if he missed out on unlocking a new level just because I couldn't come up with an evolution I liked, so he gets to be the first person to reach Mega on his own since TK and Kari did in the third movie (which, though not officially canon, did happen in my series timeline). Of course, it didn't last very long, but he'll be able to go to Mega at will from now on. Anyway, there's only one test left before the meeting with Minervamon, and when that happens, I promise a lot of answers. Probably more answers than anybody wants. It's good that they are so close, because the Demon Lords have almost all gathered, and this newly revealed figure is potentially more of a threat than any of them at the moment. So, until next time, feel free to review/message me with any feedback!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Digmon. If I did, I would have left more clever ways for people to say they don't own it.

* * *

With Kari, Sora, and Mimi all having more or less mastered using their Crests to Dark Digivolve to the Ultimate level, TK was starting to feel the pressure to succeed. He had been the basis for this entire plan of action when he first Digivolved Patamon to Devimon, so he didn't want to be the only one who was unable to achieve the Ultimate level. Despite his desire, however, he still wasn't sure how to succeed. Just like Mimi before him, he continually managed to Digivolve Devimon, but only to MagnaAngemon. It just seemed like he couldn't make Hope a negative trait. The only method he could think of was giving himself false hope, but he kept running into a problem where it couldn't ever really be false hope, since a successful Dark Digivolution would be exactly what he was hoping for. It was this sort of chicken-and-egg paradox that had been weighing on his mind ever since Gennai explained why Agumon first became SkullGreymon.

Still, he supposed Kari had faced a more difficult situation and still managed to succeed in getting Gatomon to Dark Digivolve in the middle of a battle. She had started to say something about trying to make the right thing, or her interpretation of Light, be selfish saying she wanted to impress…something, but quickly changed the subject. She had seemed a bit embarrassed, and TK didn't want to press her further coming so soon off of her being hurt in the preceding battle. Then, staying with the Kamiya family had provided plenty of distractions to make him forget that train of thought. In addition to surviving Mrs. Kamiya's latest culinary experiment, he had to deal with a completely awkward chat with Mr. Kamiya after he noticed Kari and TK both had their Crests back and jumped to the conclusion that they were dating and had given each other matching necklaces. TK could definitely see where Tai got his overprotectiveness from after the long lecture about "unacceptable behavior" he hadn't been able to interrupt. While he managed to convince Mr. Kamiya that he was not dating Kari and wouldn't be trying anything inappropriate, it didn't change the fact that he still was sleeping over in her house, and was trying to work up the courage to ask her out after this whole fiasco was over. Apparently, Kari had received a similar lecture from her mother, which made it difficult to start a conversation without both of them getting embarrassed.

TK shook the memories out of his head and tried to focus on the present, where everyone was currently sitting in a circle staring at him and Devimon. His eyes lingered for a second on Kari before he reluctantly turned away- he needed to focus, not get distracted. However, Kari was exactly the subject his mind went back to, or rather, her shortened explanation of how she had Digivolved Gatomon to LadyDevimon. Grinning to himself, he finally felt confident he would be able to succeed, and just like that, Devimon began glowing a dark purple.

Sora, Mimi, and Kari all prepared to see what Devimon's newest form would be and battle him if need be, but before the glow even subsided, a barrage of missiles exploded all around the DigiDestined, trapping them in a cage of ice.

* * *

Izzy, Joe, Yolei, and Cody all prepared to enter the last test standing between them and the Olympos XII. All of their Digimon had returned to their Rookie forms a while ago, and after being filled in on the outcomes of the last two tests, they had agreed to rest a little longer to be sure they were all at full strength. After all, the previous two tests had dealt with opponents who had pushed them to their limits, and the final test of Darkness promised to be much stronger, as it required passing nine tests to access. After all the Digimon had fully recovered and Izzy had repaired his Digimon Analyzer, they thanked Pegasusmon and Nefertimon for the hospitality and regretfully parted from the friendly guardians, as they knew they would most likely never see them again. Even if they did, Pegasusmon informed them his memory of them would be erased as soon as someone else started the tests. While this had saddened the DigiDestined, they knew they had no choice but to carry on. They stepped into the last eye-shaped portal, and beheld the location for the Test of Darkness. After the detailed geography of the previous areas, they were somewhat disappointed to find themselves standing on a flat purple surface with no distinguishing features. As expected, the sky was a dark blend of black, blue, and purple, except for the ironic twist of a pale Crest of Light floating in the background. However, despite the underwhelming first impression, the DigiDestined were quick to prepare for the worst from this area. Tentomon Warp Digivolved, while Gomamon Digivolved to Ultimate and Armadillomon and Hawkmon both Digivolved to Champion.

However, the quick Digivolution to their highest forms still proved to be too little, too late in terms of preparation, as Aquilamon suddenly screamed in pain and reverted to Hawkmon. The only clue as to the cause was the brief afterimage of three green lines slashing across where he had previously been standing. In quick succession, the same lines appeared across Ankylomon, Zudomon, and HerculesKabuterimon, but their armor, shell, and exoskeleton allowed them to survive the damage. As soon as they recovered from the shock, they heard a voice growl out "Emerald Blaze," and three green jets of fire shot towards them. Zudomon used his Ice Lord Bump to create a wall of ice in an attempt to block the attack, but the fire broke right through the wall and slammed into the three Digimon, reverting Ankylomon back to Armadillomon and knocking the wind out of Zudomon, leaving HerculesKabuterimon temporarily on his own against the threat. Luckily, the green fire had provided enough light for Izzy to locate the source of the attack, and a quick scan with his Digimon Analyzer identified their foe.

"Okay, so the opponent we are fighting this time is Cerberumon. He's an Ultimate level Demon Beast Digimon known as the Watchdog of Hell. His Emerald Blaze attack launches three streams of hellfire at the opponent, and his Styx Killer attack unleashes a flood of water that will drain the life force of its victims. He sounds nasty, but we do have a level advantage on him. As long as HerculesKabuterimon is careful, he should easily be able to win this."

Sure enough, despite Cerberumon being the final guardian, HerculesKabuterimon seemed to have the upper hand in their battle, using his Giga Scissor Claw to overpower of Cerberumon's slashes and his Horn Buster Kai to cut through any attempted use of Emerald Blaze. Zudomon found himself relegated to the role of observer as his friend showed exactly how formidable a Mega level could be when facing an Ultimate without the advantage of a partner. HerculesKabuterimon prepared himself to deliver the final blow, but Cerberumon suddenly disappeared. Confused, he looked around, only to hear his opponent's voice coming from right behind his partner.

"You think you have this test completed so easily? Your partner is strong, but this is my element. My Portals of Darkness allow me to teleport anywhere within this realm. And killing you will cut off your partner's energy supply. Styx Killer!"

HerculesKabuterimon could only stare in shock as Cerberumon shot a stream of water with an unhealthy green glow directly at his partner. Even as a Mega, he would not be able to reach his friend in time to save him. Despite knowing this, he still charged directly towards Cerberumon, in the hope that he would at least be able to destroy him for harming his best friend. However, as HerculesKabuterimon rushed in, he saw Joe push Izzy away from the attack, only to disappear in a bright silver glow right as the water blasted over him. The sphere of water that trapped Joe slowly ate away at the light coming from his Crest. HerculesKabuterimon wanted to help Joe, but the fact that Cerberumon was still looming over Izzy forced him to continue his charge, slamming his horn into the three-headed dog and sending him flying away. He then quickly scooped Izzy, Cody, Yolei, Armadillomon, and Hawkmon onto his back, thinking that this would be the best way to ensure he would be able to protect them since Cerberumon seemed to have no problem attacking somebody who wasn't even fighting. He turned to start flying towards Joe in order to figure out a way to save him from the effects of Cerberumon's Styx Killer, but he heard a grating sound and was then shocked to see Joe completely fine and riding a flying white sea monster.

While his partner could only stammer at the surprise appearance of what must have been Gomamon's Mega form, Izzy managed to pull up his profile on the Digimon Analyzer. "Wow, Gomamon Digivolved to Mega! According to this, Plesiomon is a guardian of the Net Ocean who uses sonic waves for attack and defense. And he can apparently fly too. I'm not quite sure how that makes sense, but congratulations, Joe!"

Plesiomon merely laughed. "Well, I guess when you're as awesome as I am you can kind of ignore common sense. Still, speaking of common sense, I really think we need to get Joe looked at. He keeps throwing himself in life-risking situations and only gets saved because I manage to Digivolve. Since I'm a Mega now, I really don't know if we can afford to let that continue. He might find he's allergic to death."

Joe lightheartedly slapped the back of Plesiomon's neck and was about to chastise him for joking around when Cerberumon was still around somewhere when Cerberumon himself appeared right below them and angrily growled, "Nobody can escape the clutches of death. Styx Killer!" However, Plesiomon merely rolled his eyes and sang out "Shaking Pulse," and in another grating sound wave Cerberumon's water attack fell apart and crashed to the ground. Cerberumon snarled in rage and used his Emerald Blaze attack to launch three jets of fire towards Plesiomon, but Joe's partner gave a showy yawn before launching his Water Tail Blaster attack, sending a jet of water through each of the streams and knocking Cerberumon backwards before he created another portal and disappeared. Joe sighed at this: even with him unlocking Gomamon's highest form, he still seemed to lack the power to beat Cerberumon. While Plesiomon and HerculesKabuterimon were strong enough that Cerberumon couldn't compete directly, he still could disappear to any location in this dark realm, and time was definitely the enemy of the DigiDestined. However, Izzy quickly thought of a way to solve this problem.

"Hey, Joe, remember how Cody and I beat Lycamon? Cerberumon has got to be soaked after that last attack, and since we're both flying above the surface, if Plesiomon floods the area, he won't be able to avoid the attack while we will be completely safe."

Joe smiled at his friend's plan, and Plesiomon immediately began using his Water Tail Blaster attack to flood the area. Joe couldn't help but think how, even though he had the Crest of Reliability, it seemed like Izzy was the one who could be relied on to solve any problem. He supposed it had to do with the roles each of the DigiDestined was best at- while Tai and Matt were the strongest and the leaders, Izzy was the one who came up with the plans, while Joe was the one who tended to hang back and help out the team. He supposed this explained why he was partnered with someone like Gomamon: as a rookie, he lacked offense but had a surprisingly useful fish attack, and now as a Mega he still had weaker offensive power, but made up for it with the ability to cancel out enemy attacks. Joe was snapped out of his musings when HerculesKabuterimon began charging his Mega Electro Shocker, and when he released the blast, the entire floor of the Darkness Area became electrified, and in the glow Joe could see Cerberumon explode into data. The DigiDestined all cheered, when suddenly Cerberumon appeared floating in the sky next to them.

"You fools, did you really think you can conquer me in death? I serve the master of the Underworld. So long as he reigns, death is no obstacle!" HerculesKabuterimon quickly blasted him away with his High Mega Blaster, but Cerberumon merely reformed from the data cloud. Seeing this, Plesiomon cried out for all of his teammates to cover their ears before unleashing a terrifying sonic wave that still ended up shaking HerculesKabuterimon and all the DigiDestined to their cores. Cerberumon suddenly gave a pitiful whine and tucked his tail between his legs before sitting on his haunches and shaking. Joe finally managed to calm his heart rate enough to ask his partner what the heck had just happened, only for Plesiomon to nervously chuckle.

"Well, that's basically my trump card- the Sorrow Blue attack. It's supposed to be like a siren's song, where hearing it sends opponents to their doom. It completely obliterates the fighting spirit of its target, which in theory is followed up by them being destroyed by a different attack. However, since Cerberumon would just reform if I destroyed him and be free from its effects, I think it's best to just let him sit there while we think of a way to win this test. Plus, I need to work on my control with that attack. HerculesKabuterimon isn't looking too good…"

Sure enough, the giant insect had landed on the ground, and appeared to be trying to hide under his own shell. Apparently, Plesiomon hadn't given enough warning to prepare the giant insect, who was now suffering from the effects of Sorrow Blue just as thoroughly as Cerberumon. Izzy, Cody, and Yolei all seemed a bit better off, though not much. Joe sighed. "Well, I guess it could be worse. At least we aren't being attacked right—"

As he was saying this, a ball of black lighting suddenly appeared above Cerberumon. Joe mentally kicked himself for breaking his own rule about never saying things could be worse, because invariably they always got worse from there. Sure enough, he had said it now, and now he found himself face to face with an extremely powerful looking Digimon clad in black armor with shoulder plates resembling Cerberumon's extra heads. The aura of power was only enhanced by the black lightning forming what appeared to be a set of jaws as it danced between the Digimon's hands. The electrical charge was so intense that it caused the Digimon's red cape to stand nearly upright, and even at his distance, Joe felt his hair start to stand up. Plesiomon prepared to battle the new threat, but the newcomer ignored the sea monster and placed his hand on Cerberumon, causing the dog to instantly snap out of the effects of Sorrow Blue. Cerberumon growled and immediately lunged at Joe, but before Plesiomon could react the newest arrival snapped his fingers, causing Cerberumon to stop his attack and return to the side of the other Digimon, who started lecturing the beast.

"Cerberumon, that is enough! They have destroyed you twice and rendered you helpless a third time. As master of this realm, I decree that they pass the test of Darkness, and are worthy to speak to the Twelve. Unless you wish to have your immortality revoked, I suggest you stand down."

Cerberumon nodded before he disappeared, leaving Plesiomon and Joe to stare stupidly at the supposed master of the Darkness Area who had just declared them the winners of an unwinnable battle. Seeing that he had rendered the only two fully conscious members of the team speechless, the latest Digimon snapped his fingers again, removing the effects of Sorrow Blue from everybody. As the DigiDestined all returned to normal and the Digimon regained their fighting spirit, the newest Digimon began addressing them.

"I apologize for Cerberumon's intensity. He tends to take his missions very seriously, so when he was tasked with battling those who passed the first nine trials, he would not give up. Still, that drive is admirable, which is why I prefer real Digimon to the simple memories the other Olympians chose to employ."

"Wait," Joe interrupted, "you're one of the Olympos XII? I thought we'd have to pass all ten tests to meet you, yet we saw you before we passed the test of Darkness. In fact, you're the one who passed us in this test. How does that work?"

The Digimon chuckled. "You misunderstand me, Joe Kido. While I am an Olympian, I am not actually a member of the Olympos XII. My name is Plutomon. There was a time when the thirteen of us formed an official group, but I removed myself when the others decided on a neutrality stance and I refused to give up my position as the Dark Executioner who punishes those who cannot be harmed by the light. I understand the reasoning behind not intervening directly in the affairs of the Digital World, but I refuse to stop my 'prejudiced treatment' of the forces of darkness. Despite our disagreement, however, we still are a family, and as such I serve as the twelfth and final test on the path to the Temple of Olympos, where the Olympos XII consent to speak to other members of the realm."

"What do you mean, twelfth test? Even counting Cerberumon, you would be the eleventh test, not the twelfth."

"You are very headstrong, Miyako Inoue, but did you not consider Centarumon's labyrinth? The trials of Olympus involve solving the labyrinth in order to enter Sakkakumon, ten battles within that Digimon, and then my judgment. While you were battling, I observed all of your present and past challenges in order to judge your hearts. Since you impressed me with your deeds, I found it fit to pass you on without engaging in battle. And before you ask, Koushiro Izumi, when you talk with Minervamon, she will explain exactly how these tests were created, why the Olympians know all of your names, and the exact nature of the current situation you are facing with the Lilithmon and the other Demon Lords. She is rather excited to have someone as curious as you listen to her long explanations, so I will let her have her fun. Now, are you ready to speak to the Goddess?"

As the gathered DigiDestined all nodded, Plutomon smiled before creating a portal that removed them from the Darkness Area of Sakkakumon and placed them in front of an almost exact copy of the Pantheon in Ancient Rome, standing on the peak of a small mountain. Standing to greet them in the portico was what appeared to be a small girl wearing a snake helmet and holding a sword that was as large as she was. This strange sight beckoned them inside the temple, and seeing as they didn't really have any other choice, the DigiDestined all followed her inside.

* * *

Kari groaned at the perfect timing Lilithmon seemed to possess. Out of all the times for her to show her face, it had to be when one of the DigiDestined just went to Ultimate for the first time, and now Kari might have to deal with fighting TK in addition to Tai and Matt. Immediately grabbing her Digivice, Kari activated her Crest and had Gatomon Dark Digivolve to LadyDevimon in anticipation of Lilithmon using her Black Requiem to stop normal Digivolution. Finally looking to her surroundings, she noticed the other DigiDestined had all done the same, as where Biyomon and Palmon had been standing was now covered by the glowing forms of Saberdramon and Woodmon as they too reached the Ultimate level. The only exception was TK, who was standing with a blank look on his face next to his curiously still partner, whose new form still bore a strong resemblance to Devimon. The only differences were the new version didn't have the black top that Devimon wore, exposing his decayed-looking gray skin on its arms and chest. In addition, his claws were now colored gold, and his wings had turned red. However, the biggest change was the golden mask he now wore which covered his entire face. Kari was about to see why the two were doing nothing, when an oddly familiar voice suddenly roared out, "Terra Destroyer!"

A dark red fireball suddenly crashed through the wall of ice surrounding the DigiDestined, shattering it and forcing the Digimon to pull their partners out of the way of the fireball as well as jagged pieces of ice. Kari called out for TK to move, but he didn't seem to hear her and stood still until Cherrymon unceremoniously grabbed him and his partner and dragged them to safety. Satisfied that he was safe for the moment, Kari turned to the enemies that were now visible behind the shattered ice wall and gasped in shock. While Tai and Matt were both there, they were joined by three Digimon she either hadn't seen before, or hadn't hoped to see in battle ever again. Standing in front of Tai was a BlackWarGreymon, looking exactly like the one that Arukenimon had created with one hundred control spires. Having struggled for what felt like an eternity against that BlackWarGreymon, she didn't relish the opportunity to fight one again, especially since this one must have been her brother's partner. Even worse, this time BlackWarGreymon was also not working alone. Standing right next to BlackWarGreymon was what must have been the Dark Mega form of Matt's partner, as he looked exactly like MetalGarurumon but was covered in black armor instead of his usual silver. Glancing past the dark forms of the two Digimon who had been responsible for the defeat of VenomMyotismon when she had first met Gatomon, Kari beheld the third member of the group, who appeared to be a robed man floating over a book. While he did not seem to be as powerful as the other two directly, Kari couldn't help but feel a strange sort of apprehension at the unknown foe. He must have some hidden ability if Lilithmon had decided to bring him along.

As soon as that last thought crossed her mind, Kari suddenly realized something she had missed in her first look- Lilithmon was decidedly absent. Since the Demon Lord was absent, Kari quickly hit on a plan to end this fight. "Listen, everyone, Lilithmon isn't here! That means she isn't pulling the strings on Tai and Matt, and she also can't use her Black Requiem to stop us from Digivolving. I know it doesn't really matter for us girls, but TK, you have to get Patamon back to MagnaAngemon so he can use his Soul Banisher and free Tai and Matt from the darkness once and for all. TK?"

Kari shot a worried look back at TK, as he seemed to be completely unaware of his surroundings. Trusting Sora and Mimi to keep an eye on the enemy, she ran over to him and tried to see what was wrong. He was simply staring off into space, and his eyes lacked any of their usual brightness. He didn't seem to react to her presence at all, almost like he lacked the ability or will to do anything. Grabbing his shoulder, she tried shaking him back into his senses, and was rewarded when his eyes returned to normal, except for the look of utter confusion that appeared in them. He started to ask what was going on, but Kari quickly cut him off by explaining.

"While Devimon was Digivolving, Matt and Tai showed up. We got trapped in an ice cage by Matt's partner, who I'm guessing is called BlackMetalGarurumon, and then Tai's partner BlackWarGreymon smashed through that with his attack. However, Lilithmon isn't here right now, just this robed Digimon with a book. We need you to get your partner back to MagnaAngemon so we—what?"

Kari was right to be shocked, as the entire area was covered in darkness. This was the sort of thing she had only seen when Gulfmon or Lilithmon used their Black Requiem attacks, which shouldn't be possible as Lilithmon was gone and had eliminated Gulfmon herself. Letting go of TK's shoulder, she spun around to ask Mimi and Sora what had happened.

"I'm not really sure what to say," Sora answered, "but this robed guy just turned a page in his book and suddenly used Black Requiem. Does this mean that this guy absorbed Lilithmon somehow? Kari, you and TK better get over here before these three decide to actually attack us instead of just staring at us."

Seeing as this new enemy had Lilithmon's abilities as well as two Mega level Digimon under its control, Kari quickly turned to TK to make sure he responded as well, only to once again see his face completely blank. Groaning in frustration, she once again grabbed his shoulder, only for him to immediately snap back to his usual self. Seeing him once again look confused at the current state of affairs, Kari tried to quickly recap everything that was going on.

"We're not sure how, but that robed Digimon can copy Lilithmon's abilities. That might mean he did the same thing to Lilithmon that she did to Gulfmon, and that would mean we have three Ultimates fighting against two Megas and something that's even stronger than a Demon Lord. We'll need you and Devimon to help out here, but ever since he Digivolved he's been standing still and you've completely spaced out every single time I turn my back on you. You better get your act together and get your partner to help, or we'll have a very hard time surviving this."

While TK still wasn't really sure what was going on, he understood the direness of the situation and immediately turned to his partner. "Patamon, are you in there? Why are you just standing there instead of helping in the fight?"

"NeoDevimon only acts in response to Master's orders," he replied in a creepy monotone. "Master gave no orders, so NeoDevimon did not act."

TK was shocked at the almost robotic lack of autonomy Patamon, or he supposed NeoDevimon now, was showing, but the middle of a battle was not the best time to work on that particular problem. "Okay, fine. Here are some orders, then. First, my name is TK, not Master. You will call me by my name. Second, I need you to help out in this battle. Cherrymon, LadyDevimon, and Karatenmon are our allies, and you will not harm them. You will also not harm any humans. The enemies are BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon, and that robed Digimon. You use whatever techniques or abilities you will see fit in combat without waiting for a direct order from me. However, you will not destroy BlackWarGreymon or BlackMetalGarurumon, or allow yourself to be destroyed. You can force them to revert, but do not use any more force than that. If necessary, just stall them."

As NeoDevimon flew out to join the other three Ultimate level Digimon and follow his orders, Kari shot a questioning glance at TK. "That was an awfully specific set of orders, TK. And what exactly are we going to gain by stalling them? I don't think we'll be able to outlast them in a fight."

TK grinned slightly. "Well, I guess I've just been reading a lot of stories lately that featured things that absolutely had to obey orders, yet often found loopholes to hurt the ones who gave the orders. I figured it was best to cover everything instead of trying to get Patamon to regain his free will as NeoDevimon, since we don't really have the time." As soon as he finished his sentence, TK began to hear the sounds of battle over where the four Ultimate levels were gathered. "Besides, aren't you forgetting our plan? If we can stall them, it will give Davis and Ken time to get back here with Imperialdramon. I'm thinking we'll need a Mega to get past those three."

Trying to cover the fact that she had forgotten this little detail from when they sent Davis and Ken to search for the Crest of Kindness, Kari nodded her head and pulled out her D-Terminal, quickly sending a message to the two explaining how they needed to get back as soon as possible. Turning to tell TK she had sent the message, she was frustrated to once again find a blank look on his face. Grabbing his hand, she dragged him in the direction of the battle, telling him "I think NeoDevimon's lack of will is rubbing off on you. I have to shake you in order to get you to realize anything is going on. Now, you are going to stay focused and we are going to support our Digimon and help them win this fight. Got it?"

TK responded with a monotonous "Yes, Lady Kari" before noticing Kari's glare. "Sheesh, Kari, I was just kidding. Still, looks like I win the prize for worst side effect of Dark Digivolution. I'm not exactly how I'm going to overcome losing my free will, but until I figure that out, we'll just have to work with whatever happens. Now, we have some brothers to save."

* * *

A few moments into the battle it was obvious the DigiDestined would need Imperialdramon's help if they hoped to salvage a victory out of this encounter. LadyDevimon had tried to bring the fight to a quick end with her Darkness Wave attack since it would turn the power of BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon against them. However, when she launched her Darkness Wave at BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon had used his Metal Howling attack and dissipated her attack using sonic waves. Cherrymon tried using this distraction to hit BlackMetalGarurumon with her Cherry Blast attack, but BlackWarGreymon stepped in with his Brave Shield to protect his teammate. Meanwhile, Karatenmon and NeoDevimon had both tried attacking the robed Digimon, with Karatenmon shooting her Feather Flare while NeoDevimon called out his Deep Sorrow attack. However, the robed Digimon pulled out two different floating orbs that somehow managed to absorb the feathers and the dark energy gale. Karatenmon stopped in confusion, as she hadn't been able to read this new Digimon's heart at all to predict that move, but NeoDevimon had no such qualms and flew in to close range, charging his claws with dark energy. He called out "Guilty Claw" and slashed at his foe, only for his attack to pass through empty space. The robed Digimon reappeared over the DigiDestined's heads, but while Karatenmon ran in to protect the humans from harm, the robed Digimon seemed much more interested in observing them than attacking. Karatenmon repeatedly tried to relocate the humans to safety, but for every attempt the robed Digimon constantly reappeared over their heads. Giving up on moving them, Karatenmon stood her ground, hoping she would at least be able to protect them if the robed Digimon ever decided to attack.

Unfortunately, this approach left LadyDevimon, Cherrymon, and NeoDevimon on their own against BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon. NeoDevimon was engaged in battle with BlackWarGreymon, clashing his Guilty Claw against BlackWarGreymon's Dramon Killer attack as the Dragon Man and Fallen Angel Digimon tried to slash through each other. This left LadyDevimon and Cherrymon against BlackMetalGarurumon. They launched a combined Evil Wing and Cherry Blast, only for BlackMetalGarurumon to counter with his Blizzard Wolf Claw, launching countless missiles to intercept the barrage. While the battles currently appeared to be at a stalemate, the DigiDestined knew it could not stay that way for long, as the two Megas would eventually manage to overpower the three Ultimates left fighting.

This unusually pessimistic outlook appeared to be misguided, however, as NeoDevimon managed to finally land a hit on BlackWarGreymon. Using his Stun Claw attack, NeoDevimon paralyzed his foe with a burst of electricity, and charged up one more Guilty Claw in order to end the fight. However, right before this last attack could connect, BlackMetalGarurumon turned away from his fight and launched his Freezing Breath attack, encasing NeoDevimon in a block of ice and preventing his attack from connecting. By turning away, BlackMetalGarurumon was left vulnerable to LadyDevimon's Black Wing attack, but the spear failed to penetrate his armor. While LadyDevimon pressed her attack, Cherrymon extended her branches and moved the frozen NeoDevimon to where the DigiDestined were gathered in the hope that this would keep him safe until he was freed from the ice, since BlackWarGreymon was already recovering from the Stun Claw attack.

Sure enough, the Dragon Man Digimon quickly recovered, and flew to BlackMetalGarurumon's side just in time to block a Darkness Wave attack with his Brave Shield. He then used his Black Tornado attack, forcing LadyDevimon to fly away from the corkscrewing slash. Unfortunately, this played right into the hands of her enemy, as BlackMetalGarurumon launched another Blizzard Wolf Claw to cover all possible directions of escape, causing her to be hit by the freezing missiles and encased in ice as well. BlackWarGreymon prepared to launch a finishing attack, but Cherrymon managed to successfully blindside the two corrupted Digimon with her Cherry Blast. While the attack didn't inflict much damage, it did provide just the distraction needed for Cherrymon to retrieve the frozen LadyDevimon and place her next to NeoDevimon. Karatenmon doubled the speed at which she was trying to hack through the ice surrounding the Fallen Angel Digimon, but she seemed unable to inflict any damage on it.

Seeing BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon recover from her latest attack, Cherrymon realized that she had no chance of outright defeating her opponents. Knowing that the battle was now dedicated to a simple stall match in the hopes of Imperialdramon flying in to save the day, she resigned herself to using her still incomplete Illusion Mist attack. As a thick fog rolled into the area, Cherrymon grabbed all of her friends and carried them through it, explaining her plan along the way. "Listen, don't freak out about anything you see in this mist. I made it so that anybody other than me will see hundreds of copies of our group as well as hear any sound we make as coming from the entire area. That should buy us some time, assuming we get lucky and they don't bump into us. I'll keep moving us through the mist and try to make more, though I'm not sure how much of this I can maintain. Hopefully, Imperialdramon will show up before that becomes a problem, since I can't hurt those two and Karatenmon won't be able to take them both on her own."

The next few minutes were filled with everyone other than Cherrymon being dragged through several illusory copies of themselves as Cherrymon tried to keep them safe whenever BlackWarGreymon or BlackMetalGarurumon launched themselves into the fog trying to find the real copies. Suddenly, Cherrymon stopped and gasped in horror. "Oh no, I forgot to think of that! They've started launching their attacks. That normally wouldn't be a big problem, but BlackWarGreymon is burning up all the fog in his path with his Terra Destroyer, and BlackMetalGarurumon is causing all the fog to freeze and fall down as snow! I can't produce fog fast enough to keep up with how much they are dissipating. I guess I just can't really help out after all."

While everybody else sunk at this news, Mimi defiantly refused to believe this was the case. "Don't you ever think that, Cherrymon! You told me to see the worth in myself that you saw in me to make me think I wasn't useless, and now I'll get to do the same thing to you. So what if they get rid of your Illusion Mist? Even if it doesn't work anymore, you still bought us a couple of minutes that we couldn't have gotten without you. You knew you couldn't win this fight, but you still refused to give up and managed to protect us until now. That's what makes us a great team. I was always worried about not being as strong as the others in battle, but there's more to winning a fight than just strength. I don't care if we lose this, I will not have you thinking you were useless, okay?"

Cherrymon's chance to respond was drowned out by a sudden glow that surrounded her. The DigiDestined were shocked to see Mimi's Crest and Digivice once again reacting. As Cherrymon began shrinking within the purple glow, she gently lowered all of her friends to the ground. However, Mimi barely noticed the change, as one thought kept replaying in her mind. If Cherrymon was glowing like that, it meant she was Digivolving. Cherrymon was an Ultimate level Digimon. That meant that she had just done something that only Tai and Matt had managed to do on their first adventure and unlock a Mega form. Maybe she wasn't so useless after all…

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, moving right along with the updates. So, everybody can now go to Ultimate with Dark Digivolution, and Mimi has just become the first person (other than a Lilithmon influenced Tai and Matt) to reach Mega by Dark Digivolution. On the other side of things, the Trials of Olympus are officially concluded, but it will be two chapters before you get to hear from Minervamon, since I spend the next chapter focusing on finishing up the fight against Matt and Tai. Next chapter will be shorter than usual, but hopefully that won't be an issue. As always, please review or message me with any comments.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

When Cherrymon finished her Digivolution, the DigiDestined were all taken aback. While part of the surprise was that they had unlocked a Mega form at the exact time needed to survive, the main cause was Cherrymon's newest form. After all, TK, Kari, Mimi, and Sora all had some bad memories featuring the same hammer-wielding marionette before them. Still, considering the situation, having a Dark Master on their side might actually be the best thing that could have happened to them. While Cherrymon's Digivolution caused the Illusion Mist to disappear, Puppetmon now had an ability that would allow her to fight back against BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon. Calling forth a bunch of metal strings, she tied up her two opponents and slammed them into each other before throwing them further away from the DigiDestined.

"Wow," TK said, "I never thought I'd be glad to see Puppetmon force WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon to fight again. Remind me never to get on Palmon's bad side, since I think once is more than enough when it comes to getting kidnapped by a Puppetmon to 'play'."

"You know," Puppetmon responded, "if you want to avoid getting on a girl's bad side, you really shouldn't start off by comparing her to a lonely, sadistic, and evil Digimon from your past. If we weren't already friends, I might just take offense to that. Anyway, don't start celebrating yet. This is my first time in this form, so I'm quite a bit weaker than the Dark Master we fought earlier, and if you remember, he went down in one hit from MetalGarurumon. I don't really like my chances of winning here. Especially since they just got free of my strings. Not good- Puppet Pummel!"

Swinging her hammer against the ground, Puppetmon created a large explosion that knocked her two opponents back into the ground after they had charged toward her. Before the smoke cleared, she once again used her strings, this time to unceremoniously fling the DigiDestined to a safer location. "Sorry about that, but I'm really not sure if keeping you in the same place for too long is a smart idea. Karatenmon, have you chipped those two out of the ice yet?"

Karatenmon sadly shook her head. "I don't know exactly what is in BlackMetalGarurumon's ice, but whatever it is; it just causes my swords to bounce off without leaving a dent. I'm afraid the only way to free them is going to be beating BlackMetalGarurumon. So, how about we team up on him and try to take him out before BlackWarGreymon causes any damage?"

Puppetmon nodded. "I think that might be our best bet. And I can at least ensure BlackWarGreymon stays out of the fight for a while." Having settled on a plan, the two Digimon rushed towards their opponents, with Karatenmon using her Feather Flare attack as a distraction to help them cover the distance without being stopped. Puppetmon then strung up BlackWarGreymon and used him as a weapon, mimicking his Dramon Killer attack by continually slashing at BlackMetalGarurumon. While BlackMetalGarurumon attempted to dodge his ally's attacks, Karatenmon added her own Harmony Swords to the equation, using her ability to read BlackMetalGarurumon's heart in order to predict where he would dodge and thus allowing her to land in multiple hits. Even with the level difference and his armor, she knew repeated hits would eventually lead to his defeat, and she would be able to dodge any of his retaliatory attacks.

Unfortunately for Karatenmon, BlackMetalGarurumon grew tired of her game, and launched his Blizzard Wolf Claw attack yet again. While Karatenmon had predicted the attack coming, it did not help her predict the path of the missiles. Because of this, she had to stop her attack and focus all of her energy on not being trapped within another icy prison. After avoiding all the blows, she faced BlackMetalGarurumon again, and tried provoking him to make him lose his focus and allow Puppetmon to hit him.

"Wow, that was actually somewhat smart of you, using an attack I wouldn't be able to fully see coming. If I didn't know better, I'd say you might actually be using your brain for once. Did your new robed master give you a bit longer leash than Lilithmon did? Still, it doesn't matter. You'll never be able to hit me with attacks like that."

MetalGarurumon gave a strange evil chuckle before responding. "Who said I was aiming for you?" Suddenly, Karatenmon felt her wings get slashed, and as she fell from the sky, she saw that BlackWarGreymon had been the one to deliver the blow. Berating herself for focusing too much on BlackMetalGarurumon and not focusing on her surroundings, she plummeted to the ground and noticed a line of icebergs along the path that Puppetmon had been using her strings. Apparently, BlackMetalGarurumon had used his attack to destroy Puppetmon's bindings and free BlackWarGreymon while at the same time trapping Puppetmon in a cage of ice. Karatenmon painfully hit the ground and was immediately hit with BlackMetalGarurumon's Freezing Breath attack, freezing her solid and leaving the DigiDestined in shock. All four of their partners had just been taken out of the fight, and now they were at the mercy of a being that was attacking them using their own friends. As they prepared for the end, an explosion rang out, and looking to the source, the DigiDestined saw a battered yet still standing Puppetmon wielding her hammer. She ran towards the DigiDestined, but as she came closer it was obvious she was in very rough shape, with multiple areas of her body covered in small patches of ice and other areas being slightly charred as a side effect of the explosion she had used to free herself.

"Well," Puppetmon sighed, "I guess being a Mega Digimon has its advantages, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on. You four need to get out of here. I might not have a chance of winning, but you'll always be able to find me, Patamon, Biyomon, and Gatomon at Primary village if we get destroyed. We wouldn't be so lucky if they hit you. I'll hold them off as long as I can, just get out of here!"

The DigiDestined all objected to her plan, with Mimi breaking down into tears, TK flashing back to Patamon's death against Devimon, and Kari distraught over the thought of losing so many friends. However, while those three grew depressed, Sora grew defiant. "No, I don't think we're going to do that. Either we all leave or we all stay. Besides, you're too badly hurt to do much of anything in terms of withstanding attacks. If you really want to hold them off, you should get your strings ready. You broke out of the ice while nobody else could, so maybe we need a Mega to get free. Unfortunately, Karatenmon and I don't have the greatest track record with this, but we'll manage just fine. She'll have you to guide her, and I'll have Mimi to slap me back into my right state of mind if I go too far."

Puppetmon looked skeptical. "Yeah, that could work, but are you really sure you'll be able to get Karatenmon to Digivolve? Getting to Mega is hard work, and Love is harder to put into darkness than Sincerity."

"You think I don't know that? But I don't really have a choice. And I figured something out from the last time I did this. I absolutely hate making Biyomon suffer with uncontrolled Dark Digivolution, but she'll forgive me because it's the only way to save everyone we care about. We love each other so much that we know we'll be forgiven for hurting each other. It's a horrible take on love, using it as a justification for causing pain, but sometimes, you just need to do things you aren't proud of. Now, stand back!"

Sora's Crest and Digivice flared active once again, and the ice-encased Karatenmon began glowing a dark purple before rapidly expanding, easily shattering her ice restraints. When the glow faded, the DigiDestined couldn't help but gasp in awe at her newest form. While Garudamon had been one of the largest partner Digimon the DigiDestined had access to, capable of carrying the entire team on her claws, this new form was larger than some buildings. Her massive body was covered with dark blue feathers, except for lighter blue feathers on her head, neck, and wings. Her wings and tail were ringed with purple feathers to match her beak and face markings. While the DigiDestined all cheered at Sora's success, Puppetmon's face fell.

"You want me to control THAT? How exactly am I supposed to get my strings in any sort of position to work? And even if that wasn't an issue, that new form will be a lot of trouble if Biyomon doesn't have it under control. She Digivolved into Ornismon. It's an Ancient Bird Digimon that went extinct long ago, and for good reason. Ornismon were known as the Rulers of the Skies, and they were so ferocious they would attack anything they saw. They've been depicted in legends as something approaching a god of destruction. Just by flapping their wings they could unleash Tempests that leveled forests, and their Cosmic Ray attacks fired a laser beam capable of carving out a mountainside. Now, I know legends tend to be exaggerated, but Biyomon still has a lot of destructive power at her disposal and might not know how to use it. I'll do my best to stop her from hurting you if she doesn't have control, but you'll have to get as far from here as possible as soon as you can."

Before anybody had a chance to respond, Ornismon let out a feral screech and started flapping her wings, causing massive gusts of wind as she started to take to the sky. Seeing as she was running out of time, Puppetmon sent out her strings, just barely managing to catch one of the large bird's claws. She slowly began the long trip to the top of Ornismon's head, hoping that she would at least be able to influence the direction of Ornismon's attacks, since fully controlling something that large was well outside of her current ability. She managed to make it onto Ornismon's back, but by that time, Ornismon had already started to launch an attack. Rapidly flapping her wings, Ornismon created a massive gust of wind that destroyed much of the local vegetation, but didn't seem to be aimed at anything in particular, as the DigiDestined and the Digimon were all outside of the path of the attack.

"So," Mimi said, "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Biyomon isn't fully in control of her Mega form yet. How are you holding up, Sora?" Looking to her friend, Mimi was surprised to find her face constantly fluctuating between a horrified look and a sinister grin. Hearing her name, Sora seemed to gather herself a little bit and managed to answer.

"Honestly, Mimi, I think I'm going to be sick. I keep switching between glee that I managed to manipulate my friends and family into doing exactly what I want and soul-crushing guilt that I enjoy that. I feel like I'm the evil stepmother from all of those fairytales."

"Well, at least you aren't feeling the need to kill everything anymore. Now, how about we grab LadyDevimon and NeoDevimon and see if we can get out of here before Ornismon sees us and decides we look like something it wants to attack?"

"Sounds like a great plan," TK said, "except for the fact that Ornismon already is coming right at us!" Sure enough, the large bird was flying directly at them, becoming large enough to blot out the sun. In the eclipse-like conditions, the DigiDestined could clearly see a glowing yellow orb forming within Ornismon's beak, and they knew they would not be able to escape the incoming attack. However, just before Ornismon released her Cosmic Ray attack, her head suddenly jerked slightly to the left and the bright laser blast missed the DigiDestined by thirty feet, yet the force of the impact was still great enough to knock the DigiDestined off of their feet. Mimi, Sora, and Kari all landed roughly on the now-jagged ground, yet TK experienced a somewhat softer landing: while Mimi and Sora had been standing on their own, he had still been holding Kari's hand ever since she had dragged him off to join the battle, and thus when they were sent flying, he had somehow managed to land on top of her. While he embarrassedly tried helping her up, Mimi began yelling at her partner. "Puppetmon, next time could you not cut that so close? If you had waited another second, we would have been part of that crater over there!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but it wasn't exactly easy to switch her course by even that much," Puppetmon groaned as she struggled to prevent the rampaging Ornismon from launching a much closer follow-up attack. "I'm a wooden puppet who's all of three feet tall. She's a giant legendary bird monster. It was easier when she was focusing on BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon, but after they got beaten around for a bit that weird robed guy suddenly sucked them into his book and disappeared. That just left you as tAHHHHHHH!"

Puppetmon's sentence turned into a horrifying scream as a multitude of explosions suddenly covered Ornismon, leaving both Digimon encased in ice after the efforts of a weary but angry BlackMetalGarurumon. As the large bird suddenly plummeted from the sky, BlackWarGreymon began charging his Terra Destroyer attack, launching it so it hit the helpless Ornismon just as she hit the ground, and the combined impacts resulted in a shockwave that once again knocked the DigiDestined from their feet. By the time they once again recovered, there was no sign of Ornismon or Puppetmon, LadyDevimon and NeoDevimon had both been knocked over yet still remained trapped in the ice, and an exhausted BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon stood in front of a passive Tai and Matt, with the robed Digimon floating overhead.

While Mimi and Sora were devastated at the disappearances of their partners, it served as the final straw for TK. On top of having his brother kidnapped by Lilithmon, he had just witnessed the apparent death of two of his friends at the hands of Matt and Tai's partners. Just like what had happened in the Dark Whirlpool when Ken had created Kimeramon, he suddenly found himself consumed by an intense rage and jumped to his feet, half dragging Kari with him. As his Crest began glowing once again, he sunk further and further into a rage as he tried to get NeoDevimon to Digivolve so he could free himself from the ice and punish the robed Digimon for all the problems he had faced in the past week. Kari found herself subconsciously going along with his plan, also activating her Crest, but was only vaguely aware of any of this happening, as her mind kept playing over the facts that TK had held her hand for the entirety of this battle and the two times he had fallen on top of her. Suddenly, both of their Digivices activated, and a massive explosion of dark energy erupted out of the glaciers that had trapped NeoDevimon and LadyDevimon.

Sora and Mimi could only gasp in shock at this latest development. They had both witnessed their partners Dark Digivolve to Mega in this fight, but that had only involved the usual purple glow. This time, a Dark Digivolution triggered an explosion strong enough to knock BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon flying backwards, reverting to their rookie forms right before colliding with their partners. Then, two pillars of black fire replaced the icebergs, and a circular symbol with strange markings appeared in each pillar, with one symbol glowing orange and the other glowing green. Looking to TK and Kari to see what they thought of this, Sora and Mimi could see both of their Crests suddenly changing. Kari's Crest was being covered with the same green symbol that had appeared where LadyDevimon had been, while TK's was being covered with the orange one, barely showing any hints of yellow or pink in the glow. TK and Kari themselves didn't seem to notice the change at all, or notice much of anything for that matter, as they appeared to be consumed by the darkness emitting from their Crests and partners.

Looking back to the two Digivolving Digimon in complete apprehension over what dark Digimon could possibly cause this reaction, Mimi and Sora managed to see the robed Digimon's book suddenly appear in front of the two glowing symbols. The book opened and the robed Digimon came out and threw one of its two stones at each of the pillars. When the stones connected, the pillars of flame suddenly disappeared, and Mimi and Sora briefly glimpsed two tiny Digimon falling from what had been the center of the pillars. TK and Kari collapsed as their Crests returned to their normal inactive states, and Mimi and Sora suddenly found themselves as the only conscious members of the team against an opponent who had just taken out two exceptionally strong Digimon, at least judging by the effects of their Digivolution, in one attack. Seeing no hope for escape without any Digimon, Mimi and Sora braced themselves for the end, when a blue and purple spiraling blast of energy suddenly struck the robed Digimon, sending him flying off of his book. When the afterglow cleared, Mimi and Sora saw Imperialdramon in his Fighter Mode. Seeing the robed Digimon's book flying back to its owner and remembering what Puppetmon had said about its ability to make Digimon disappear, Mimi quickly shouted out for Imperialdramon to destroy the book. Not quite understanding why he should do it but clearly hearing her desperation, Imperialdramon called out his Splendor Blade attack, and shredded the book with a light sword that had materialized on his left arm. Seeing the loss of his book, the robed Digimon flew over to where Tai and Matt were standing with their unconscious partners, and had his two floating stones surround his group before having them crash together in a blinding flash of light. When the light cleared, there was no sign of the enemy, and the darkness that usually signified the effects of Black Requiem disappeared.

Knowing that the disappearance of the darkness most likely signified the end of the fight, Imperialdramon satisfied himself with a quick scan of the area to assure the enemy had indeed disappeared. However, he noticed four small figures lying on the ground, and flew down to pick them up. Carrying them over to Mimi and Sora, he gently set them on the ground before Mode Changing to his Dragon Mode, letting Ken and Davis out, and then splitting back into his two rookie forms. Davis started complaining about how jarring it was for Imperialdramon to Mode Change with them inside, but a quick look at the group they had just arrived at shut him up. TK and Kari were both unconscious, and Sora and Mimi were crying over two unconscious Digimon Davis recognized from his time in Primary Village as a Nyokimon and a Yuramon. Meanwhile, Ken was tending to an unconscious Poyomon and Nyaromon, and Davis could immediately see he had missed the majority of a harrowing battle. After all, of the eight members that had started the battle, six were unconscious, and the Digimon had all been knocked back into their Baby forms except for Gatomon, who was in her In-Training stage. Deciding that swapping stories about the fight and the successful recovery of Ken's Crest would have to wait until everyone recovered, Davis and Ken had Wormmon and Veemon return to Imperialdramon so they could carry everyone back to a gate and get them home before any other evil Digimon decided to attack the weakened DigiDestined.

* * *

Back in the Dark Ocean, Lilithmon couldn't suppress her boredom. Sure, opening a rift into the Dark Area large enough to allow a Demon Lord to traverse realms sounded exciting enough, but Belphemon was taking his sweet time crossing the rift. This meant she had been standing in a circle for what felt like hours connecting her energy with the other four demon Lords in a pentagram with the Digimentals of Hope and Light in the center. As Lilithmon was completely bored and had no way to move without breaking formation and having four angry Demon Lords attack her, she found herself passing the time by critiquing every single thing that was wrong with this image. First of all, the Digimentals had no need of being included in the picture. Sure, the powers of Hope and Light helped open the dimensional rift, but they were really only required to open the Gate of the Seven Deadly Sins, not the current portal they were opening. After all, Daemon had managed to escape from the Dark Area on his own more than five years ago, and proceeded to open a pathway for her and later Barbamon long before they had acquired the Digimentals. Secondly, Belphemon shouldn't have required the entire group to be gathered together in order to cross the boundary. Sure, having a greater concentration of darkness on one side of the portal made it much easier to cross over, but Belphemon's problem wasn't that he couldn't cross on his own; it was just that he didn't want to put any energy into doing it. Why Lucemon wasn't blasting the lazy mutt she would never understand, but his laziness was forcing the other Demon Lords to pull him from the Dark Area. The third problem was the pentagram itself. After all, the Demon Lords could have accomplished the exact same purpose sitting in a circle, but they just had to go with some symbolic significance. Of course, they seemed to be ignoring the fact that a the only difference between a symbolically evil pentagram and a symbolically good pentagram was orientation, and since the star was both point up and point down depending on how you looked at it, it was impossible to tell which shape they were actually making. This entire ritual was nothing more than an overdramatic ploy.

Of course, there was a reason that Lilithmon, and the rest of the Demon Lords who saw these same problems, put up with these flaws: Lucemon had ordered them. And loathe as they all were to admit it, their leader was by far the strongest of the seven, and would have no problem destroying anybody who questioned his sense of style. He was fully capable of getting out of the Dark Area on his own now that so many Demon Lords were on the other side, but insisted on doing things his way. Luckily, the current plan hadn't formed until after Lilithmon had crossed over, so Daemon hadn't been forced to come up with something resembling a one-pointed star that satisfied Lucemon's interpretations. Sadly, Lucemon had ordered Daemon and Lilithmon to start over when their formation didn't look 'starry' enough on their first attempt to allow Barbamon to cross over, and had continued to nitpick the three and four pointed stars that allowed subsequent crossings. Of course, nobody bothered pointing out how stupid this dramatic entrance without an audience was, as they all knew too well what would happen if Lucemon got angry with them. Of all the Demon Lords, he was the only one who could handle possessing more than one of the Seven Code Keys on his own, and his history of betraying allies combined with their expendability to the overall plan stopped anyone from raising a fuss. This was a being who had the entire world destroyed the last time he freed himself and then celebrated by blowing up the moons, so if he asked for something, you tended to agree. Hence why nobody did anything other than grumble when he demanded that he should be brought into a center of a hexagram composed of all the Demon Lords. Lilithmon thought he was really pushing his boundaries when he demanded to wait until Belphemon awoke from his thousand year slumber, which admittedly was happening soon, to cross over himself and then wait an additional seven hours before starting to open the Gate, since that involved two delays to the Master's plan, but she didn't really want to be the messenger to tell her boss that his boss wasn't going to be happy with him.

Lilithmon was snapped out of her musings by the sudden appearance of what Lilithmon secretly considered a giant stuffed animal, but was actually Belphemon in his Sleep Mode. He was just lucky he only assumed this form when he was asleep and changed into a much more respectable form whenever he awoke, since he was never aware of the constant ridicule he faced as the cutest of the Demon Lords. Of course, it may have helped that nobody said the word cute anywhere near him, since his snores were so loud that even the Demon Lords tended to shy away from him. Now that the sixth Demon Lord was present, Lilithmon prepared to leave the circle and go off wandering trying to find something to entertain herself, when she felt a sudden shock that forced her to collapse onto the ground. After a few seconds, the feeling completely passed, allowing her to pick herself up to the laughter of three other Demon Lords, with the only two abstaining being the still slumbering Belphemon and Daemon, who also seemed to be picking himself off the ground. It took Lilithmon a second to recognize the feeling, as it was something she hadn't felt since she had first become one of the Seven Demon Lords: a massive shock from her Code Key. While the activity of the Key fluctuated depending on the amount of Lust currently surrounding her, Lilithmon had not felt a shock this strong since she had acclimated to its presence all those years ago. Unsure of what this could mean, Lilithmon opened a portal and left the gathering, hoping to come to some form of understanding on her own.

Unfortunately, solitude was not what Lilithmon would find. She arrived in a clearing in the forest that grew next to the Dark Ocean, but before she could do more than catch her breath, a blinding light appeared before her eyes. Before the light even cleared, Lilithmon was greeted by an ancient-sounding voice.

"Ah, I was wondering if you would feel that disturbance. It is always good to observe a phenomenon that has never been seen before." The light faded to reveal an unconscious Tai, Matt, Agumon, and Gabumon, while the robed figure addressing Lilithmon looked very out of place without his usual book. Jumping on this right away, Lilithmon couldn't help herself from venting a bit of her frustration at the events of the day. "Oh, so the great Wisemon finally feels the need to talk to others? And whatever happened to your precious book? Can't help but notice you aren't using it to pop up wherever you want anymore."

Wisemon took a second to respond, but when he did it was in his usual dispassionate tone. "Yes, the loss of my book was indeed a setback, but sacrificing it did allow me to study some new situations. First, the book is quite vulnerable to the sword of an Imperialdramon. Second, destroying the book causes me to lose any attacks that I had absorbed. Third, humans and Digimon travelling directly through the Space-time stones without my book lose consciousness, which in this case is a good thing as it prevented these four from attacking me. Now, if you excuse me, I really must find another book. With the latest actions of Hope and Light, I am about to see some truly interesting things that I must copy down. Farewell."

Before Lilithmon could even ask what he meant about the disturbance he had mentioned earlier and the latest actions of Hope and Light, Wisemon had used his Space-time stones to disappear once again. Angry that Wisemon had dumped hints of answers on her before disappearing and leaving her with Tai and Matt once again, Lilithmon decided to put her Nazar Nail through a workout, repeatedly slashing through the trees surrounding the clearing and causing them to corrode. After venting out a tiny portion of her frustration, she realized Tai and Matt were currently free, and quickly cast her Darkness Love on them once again before they regained consciousness. After deciding there really was no other way to find out what had happened, Lilithmon contented herself with waiting until they regained consciousness and questioning them herself. After all, even if they were under Wisemon's control, they still would have seen everything, and now that they had to obey her again, it would be a simple matter of asking them what happened and she would know the truth.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, looks like the DigiDestined managed to get out of this one by the skin of their teeth. We also finally get the identity of Lilithmon's replacement in Wisemon. He was probably the most difficult character to create, as I wanted him to be very scientific in his approach: viewing all the fight as an experiment and being detached, yet still interested in new developments. Hence why he immediately left when TK and Kari started Digivolving- what he saw was so interesting that he needed to abandon the fight so that he would be able to observe what happens next, both with them and Lilithmon. So, even though we didn't get to see their Mega forms, everybody now can go all the way to Mega with Dark Digivolution. The question is, will that be enough? Guess you'll just have to read to find out… or you could try asking me in a review or message. Not that I'll give major spoilers, but you can't know if I'll answer your question unless you try!


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: I know I usually just start off with a disclaimer and leave the Author's Note until the end, but this chapter deserves special treatment. This is the meeting with Minervamon, and because of who she is, she's going to be giving a massive history lesson of the Digital World. Since this chapter is going to basically be a brief overview of world history, it will probably be the most boring chapter for many readers. Still, this was also the chapter that required the most work, so I'm hoping at least a few readers enjoy filling in the backstory of the world as much as I do. So, pour yourself a cup of coffee and make yourselves comfortable, because this chapter has a lot of information. It might make you glad that I don't own Digimon, since my timeline might be a little more convoluted than the original (though with Milleniummon, that claim might not be entirely accurate).

* * *

Izzy, Joe, Yolei, and Cody found themselves in a circular room, facing twelve empty thrones. Their guide merely walked silently up to the side of one of the thrones, and then suddenly used her giant sword as a vault to spring herself onto the chair before smiling at the DigiDestined.

"Greetings, DigiDestined. I am Minervamon, Goddess of Wisdom and member of the Olympos XII." As all of her visitors' jaws dropped, Minervamon couldn't help but chuckle. "Sorry, couldn't really help myself. I just love the look of surprise on visitors' faces when they realize I'm actually not just a servant to the gods and am one myself. Now, I have been watching you for quite some time, and I know you seek answers on a strict deadline, so I'll have to ask you not to interrupt me with too many questions. Right now, you wish to know the nature of the plan Lilithmon of the Demon Lords is working on as your main goal. I will answer that, but I believe I will start with a few of your more minor questions, such as why I appear the way I do, how we formulated the Twelve Trials, why a powerful group of Mega Digimon such as the Olympos XII has stood by and allowed the various dark forces you have fought throughout your adventures to continue, and lastly, how I know you are thinking all of these questions."

"But, we don't have time—"

"While I have always appreciated your headstrong personality, Miyako Inoue, I am afraid I will have to remind you not to waste time with interruptions. The reason I must give an extremely long answer to your main question is precisely because I am the Goddess of Wisdom. If you just wanted answers, you'd have to get the knowledge some other way. I will give you the background information that will allow you to understand the answers. To use a mundane example from your world, consider me a tutor. I will help you get the answer, but I won't just hand you the answer key. I assure you, I will cut out much of the information that is only tangentially related to your current problem in the interest of time, but you must follow my method if you wish to have my help."

While Joe and Cody nodded their heads immediately, it took a few moments before Izzy and Yolei could manage to wrestle down their objections to this plan: Yolei due to her hurry to get the answers, and Izzy due to his curiosity that would make him want to ask more questions as they came up. Finally, the DigiDestined were all ready to listen, so Minervamon began her explanation. "Okay, the first question I will answer will be the simplest: the matter of my appearance. After all, wisdom is usually associated with age, and I am obviously a young girl. The main reason for this is simple: when you have lived as long as I have, you realize life is much more fun when you look at things from a child's viewpoint when you don't need to be serious. There is also another reason. I do have an older form that I can shift to at will, but I unlocked that form when I pursued elegance and sensuality. As such, my form has certain, well, features that tend to be distracting to humans. Knowing your hurry, I decided it would be best if you were focusing on my mental assets instead of being slightly distracted by physical form."

"The answers to many of your other questions are more tied together. For example, the reason why the Olympos XII have not gotten directly involved in conflicts before is found in the history of the Digital World, as is the true nature of the Demon Lords' current actions. And one of the benefits of being an Olympian is the ability to view just about all aspects of Digital World history: past, present, and future. It is a similar power to that of the Fates from your world's mythology, only we have less control but better vision. Apart from a few special cases, we are aware of just about anything, though we tend to limit our view for practicality's sake. Thus, we are some of the very few beings that can give an accurate telling of historical events undistorted by legend. Along with this ability to see through time is an ability to create shades of any beings we observe. That was what you experienced for most of the Trials: we observed many Digimon, created replicas of ones that fit a certain theme, and then used those replicas as our Guardians. Many of the Digimon you fought were based on monsters that existed well before the Digital World took its current formation, though some, like Kimeramon, were more recent, and others are Digimon that do not exist yet, but will soon enough."

"However, to say the Olympos XII do not interfere with conflicts in the Digital World would not be completely accurate. In most cases, we try not to pick a side in conflicts: things like light and darkness or good and evil are all part of the natural cycle of the world. Our job is to protect the Digital World and ensure it doesn't fall into complete barbarism, but other than that we do not interfere. However, there have been limited cases where the world itself has almost been destroyed, and in those cases, we have taken measures to fight back. Of course, we swore an oath not to get involved directly, but that doesn't mean we can't provide information or fighters who can help restore balance. One of our personal favorite methods is arranging for human children to come save the world in its darkest hour. These Chosen Children are more commonly known as the DigiDestined. So far, we have called in groups at two separate instances, if you are willing to view everything since the Highton View Terrace Incident until present as one instance. This explains how I am able to predict your questions, since after all, I helped in the process of choosing you to become DigiDestined, and have observed your exploits up to the present."

"Now, I understand this is coming as a shock, but I am afraid you are on a very strict deadline, so I must continue on. We have reached the point where you must educate yourselves on the history of the Digital World in order to understand the answer to your most pressing question. I shall do my best to be brief, but there are many important events that you are currently unaware of, so it shall seem like an extremely long and pointless story. Added to its length, the history of the Digital World is much more complex than that of your world. There are actually numerous Digital Worlds all spawning from the same source, and within each of these separate dimensions the nature of time itself is much less rigid than it is in your world. Of course, it doesn't help when you have a creature such as Millenniummon creating time paradoxes and stable time loops, and since Millenniummon played an influence at the very beginning of the Digital World and set into motion many of the events that resulted in the current situation, we must include him in this little history lesson. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to place an origin for Millenniummon to a certain point in time, so I shall begin with the events occurring immediately prior to the incident at Highton View Terrace that led to the beginning of your group of DigiDestined. Koushiro, it would be best if you were to record this on your laptop, as it will be difficult to keep track of everything in this story if you only hear it."

"Now, Koushiro and Jyou already know most of the things that resulted from the event, but the events that caused Highton View Terrace are important to the history of the Digital World. Shortly before the fight you two witnessed as children, something beyond even our powers to predict happened. Now, the Digital World has many similarities to human computers, and one of these is a place for deleted files to go. In the Digital World, the Dark Area serves as a graveyard for deleted data from which there shouldn't be any escape. However, a mass of the deleted data of hundreds of species of deleted Digimon suddenly reformatted itself and gained life. This new being, Apocalymon, was such an abomination that he warped the fabric of reality. This warping resulted in four Digimon who were created at the Mega level and escaped the Dark Area. These four Digimon acted as Apocalymon's hands to bring about the destruction of the Digital World as a punishment for the world's survival after the data that composed Apocalymon was deleted. This was the birth of the Dark Masters, who took the forms of MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, and Piedmon. Apocalymon's existence also caused effects he did not intend: time began moving at a much greater rate in the Digital World, and two Digi-Eggs were pushed into your world: one which hatched and evolved into a Greymon, and another which hatched into a Parrotmon. As you already know, Tai and Kari befriended the Greymon and allowed it to tie a fight it really should have lost, and eight child witnesses of the battle were scanned to become the first of a new group of DigiDestined. Of course, as your Digimon, Crests, and Digivices were being prepared, the Dark Masters raided the temple housing Gennai's order, destroying many, forcing Gennai to flee, and separating Gatomon from the other seven. When the Digimon were ready, the first seven kids were called into the Digital World, and I really don't think I need to give many details about what happened then."

"However, something very peculiar happened toward the end of that first adventure. During your battles with the Dark Masters, you managed to defeat Apocalymon's children one by one. However, something unprecedented happened when WarGreymon defeated Machinedramon. While his body was destroyed, part of Machinedramon's data managed to survive for a brief period of time and came in contact with a dying Kimeramon. Both of these Digimon were seconds away from death, but they somehow managed to combine themselves. This imitated a DNA Digivolution and gave birth to Millenniummon, a creature with the ability to manipulate time and space itself. It took Millenniummon several months to return to his full strength, and he then began attacking the Digital World. Once again, the DigiDestined were called in to fight the newest threat, but Millenniummon proved too powerful to stop. He resurrected all the villains the DigiDestined had previously fought, and eventually succeeded in capturing all the DigiDestined and all their partners except Agumon. Now, the Digital World certainly wasn't prepared for its protectors to fall so quickly, and in a panic we sent out another cry for help to the human world, which was answered by one boy named Ryo Akiyama. Astonishingly, this one human child managed to use Taichi Kamiya's Digivice, not to Digivolve, but to convert members of Millenniummon's army to his own cause. Using this army and Agumon, he defeated countless enemies, saved the DigiDestined, and defeated Millenniummon. So, now that one Tamer had succeeded where the eight DigiDestined had failed, the Digital World finally seemed to be stepping towards a lasting peace."

"Of course, Millenniummon already had a history of surviving when all the laws of nature say he should be dead, and his defeat at Ryo's hands did not stop him for long. He decided to announce his return in his own special way: he noticed a young boy in America attempting to create a Digimon in an effort to make a new friend, and decided to turn that Digimon into a virus that threatened to destroy the human world as a means to destroy Ryo. However, Koushiro managed to detect the Digi-Egg, and after numerous attempts at stopping the now-hatched Digimon, Omnimon managed to defeat Diaboromon right before a nuclear missile would have detonated and killed Ryo as he watched the battle with his friend, a young Ken Ichijouji."

"Once again, Miyako, I can tell you wish to have an angry outburst, but you must not interrupt the story. There is a very good reason Ken has never told you any of this despite how close you are, and that reason is important to the story. Before I get to that, however, I must tell you what happened immediately after Omnimon defeated Diaboromon. Millenniummon realized he would be unable to defeat Ryo indirectly, so he decided to draw Ryo into the Digital World. He used his abilities to create another Diaboromon and set it loose in the Digital World. Now, at the time, we did not realize Millenniummon's intentions, so we helped him by pulling Ryo in ourselves. After all, we had already seen the DigiDestined were incapable of beating this threat while Ryo was, so we had to call him in. We intended to give him his own partner, but for all of our knowledge we were unable to find him, so we instead sent another partner Digimon: the Veemon who would eventually be partnered to Daisuke Motomiya. Using another borrowed partner and another borrowed Digivice, Ryo once again entered the Digital World, this time accompanied by Ken, who came along accidentally. Ryo and Veemon tracked down the Diaboromon, only for Millenniummon to delete it and greet Ryo by splitting the Digital World in two, stranding Ryo and Ken on opposite sides of a dimensional rift."

"However, Ryo and Ken did not let this stop them, and after Ken found his partner Wormmon, they managed to fight through various trials to collect fragments of the Digimental of Desire. Now, while most Digimentals only allow Armor Digivolution, Millenniummon had used this particular Digimental to seal away his vulnerable soul, ensuring he could never be defeated. Only by collecting all the pieces could Ryo and Ken undo this seal and reunite the Digital World. When they undid the seal, they found themselves within Millenniummon's mind, and faced off against their enemy in a more powerful form, Moon=Millenniummon. Ryo and Ken eventually triumphed, but as Moon=Millenniummon was destroyed, he released a wave of Dark Spores towards the two in an effort to maintain his consciousness. Ken jumped between Ryo and the spores, saving Ryo at the cost of having a single Dark Spore embed itself in his neck. While Ken did a remarkable job repressing the spore, its effects still changed him. He went from a very gentle boy who was an embodiment of Kindness to the Digimon Emperor. In addition to the change in intelligence, athleticism, and personality, Millenniummon's essence caused him to forget his adventure and planted a few false memories to explain how he knew of the Digital World and Wormmon. While this is skipping ahead of a few events in my story, I should also note that it was Millenniummon's essence that convinced Ken to combine the data of multiple Digimon into one being, inspiring the creation of the Kimeramon that you fought shortly before Ken broke free of the spore's influence."

"Of course, if just one Dark Spore could preserve Millenniummon's essence for that extended period of time in a host that fights off the effects, the hundreds of spores still remaining in the Digital World could do a much better job. Hours after Ryo and Ken returned to Earth, the spores began joining together as Moon=Millenniummon resurrected himself. Now, Moon=Millenniummon was a threat far too powerful for anyone in the Digital World to defeat, so we were once again forced to call for Ryo to help, as he was the only one who could defeat Moon=Millenniummon. However, given Ryo's inability to completely destroy the monster, we needed a way for him to get stronger in the hopes that he would finally succeed, so the four Sovereigns arranged a training regimen under the ruse of a tournament. In order to ensure Ryo would join, the Sovereigns concocted a story where three of them had gone evil, and the fourth was searching for a powerful human Tamer to help him fight the other three and save the world. The Sovereigns then called in a group of DigiDestined, consisting of Izzy, Mimi, Matt, Tai, and numerous international children, and explained the plan before sending Ryo a Digital Gate disguised as a questionnaire that dragged him in after he selected the name of a Sovereign at random. The selected Sovereign played the role of the only good one, and Ryo went through the tournament, eventually winning. He didn't exactly take the revelation that he had been lied to well when he found out the true nature of the tournament, but he still went to face the threat and confronted Moon=Millenniummon. However, even after his defeat, Moon=Millenniummon refused to die, and claiming he would take Ryo with him, he unleashed a giant explosion in time rather than space. Whether this was the original intention or not, the explosion hurled Moon=Millenniummon's data into the distant future, while Ryo was sent back to the origin of the Digital World."

"Upon his arrival in the future, Moon=Millenniummon reformatted once again, becoming a nearly unstoppable evil god capable of travelling freely between time, space, and parallel dimensions. With his unrivaled power, the newly formed ZeedMillenniummon sought to rule the entire multiverse, and was only opposed by small but determined resistance groups in each dimension. Now, ZeedMillenniummon easily could have crushed all the resistance groups on his own, but he instead decided to send his armies back to the origin of the Digital World in order to destroy any chance of a resistance forming in any dimension before it happened. Now, the Digital World was created from data in the human world, which means the Digital World began when human beings created the first computers, ENIAC and ABC. How the world worked back then involved ENIAC working directly to maintain several different Digital Worlds using its capability to create stable time loops while ABC shadowed ENIAC, keeping ENIAC working. ZeedMillenniummon was unaware of ABC, but knew ENIAC was the only being capable of saving the resistance forces he was fighting, so he sent forces back in time to destroy ENIAC. Luckily, Ryo arrived in that time period shortly before ZeedMillenniummon's forces, and by teaming up with a Monodramon, Ryo saved ENIAC from destruction."

"Sensing Ryo's reappearance, ZeedMillenniummon changed tactics and began sending his forces to crush various resistance factions with sheer force, focusing on this Digital World and one other world in particular. This forced ENIAC to burn up enormous amounts of energy sending Ryo to save the resistance factions, eventually forcing it to shut down. However, ZeedMillenniummon still hadn't won despite ENIAC shutting down, making him realize ABC's existence. Knowing it would not be able to survive long against ZeedMillenniummon's assault, ABC decided to send Ryo directly to ZeedMillenniummon's lair, where the two once again fought. While the fight was for the fate of the world, it also had a much more personal side than any of the previous battles. ZeedMillenniummon revealed that the reason Ryo had as of yet been unable to destroy him: ZeedMillenniummon was Ryo's true partner, and the two were bound together. However, the Monodramon Ryo had teamed up with felt that he deserved to be Ryo's partner, and after ZeedMillenniummon was defeated, Monodramon forced an unstable DNA Digivolution, combining with ZeedMillenniummon into a Digi-Egg and ending the inter-dimensional threat. As a reward for saving the world, ABC offered Ryo a chance to return home, but remembering how he had only been used to defeat Millenniummon by many people he had thought were friends, Ryo instead decided to return to the other Digital World ZeedMillenniummon had focused on. He ended up living a new life on a parallel version of Earth and continuing on exciting adventures, but those do not pertain to the current situation, so I will save them for another time."

"Unfortunately, Ryo stopping ZeedMillenniummon did not repair the damage he had caused throughout the multiverse. Some Digital Worlds disappeared entirely, and others found their evolution corrupted by influence from parallel dimensions. This problem was made worse by ABC using up a majority of its energy to send Ryo to fight ZeedMillenniummon and then send him to the other universe, meaning the Digital World was in danger of losing the source of its stability. In order to solve this problem, ABC used the last of its power to create numerous supercomputers that would be in charge of maintaining only one Digital World each, so they wouldn't have to handle the pressure of maintaining a multiverse. It named all of these computers Yggdrasil, as they were all branches that connected to the different worlds, much like the tree in Norse Mythology. With that, ABC shut down, and all the different Digital Worlds began diverging."

"For a long time, Yggdrasil led the Digital World in an area of prosperity. Darkness and Light existed in perfect harmony and the strength of thirteen powerful Royal Knights helped to maintain network security. The world was an absolute paradise, but the ideal conditions had an unfortunate outcome. The population of the Digital World grew exponentially, and eventually Yggdrasil could not handle the strain of maintaining so many creatures. In order to save its own existence, Yggdrasil created a new Digital World and started Project Arc. The goal of this project was to move a small proportion of the population of the old Digital World to the new world. Then, Yggdrasil would release the X-Program on the old Digital World to destroy all Digital life. Yggdrasil saved its subservient Royal Knights and two percent of the population, intending to destroy the rest of the population of Digimon. However, a few Digimon in the old world managed to adjust their DigiCores and become immune to the X-Program, developing what was known as the X-Antibody."

"This X-Antibody gave more than just protection, however, as it changed host Digimon into a more powerful form and could be transferred between Digimon. These two facts caused all the Digimon in the old Digital World to try to kill any X-Antibody Digimon they found in order to gain the antibody and preserve their own life. In addition, Yggdrasil saw that the X-Program was failing, and decided to try a new plan to eliminate all digital life. He took Alphamon, the leader of the Royal Knights, and reverted him back to his rookie form of Dorumon before modifying him with an X-Antibody. Yggdrasil then wiped Dorumon's memories and sent him to the dying world, where he would unknowingly gather information Yggdrasil would use in a second attempt at destroying Digimon."

"Of course, given the fact that every Digimon still alive in the old world wished to kill X-Antibody Digimon, Dorumon eventually followed numerous other X-Antibody Digimon to the new Digital World. Yggdrasil did not tolerate this, and sent the twelve remaining Royal Knights out with orders to kill all X-Antibody Digimon. Many of the Royal Knights were uneasy with the order, but they had sworn loyalty to Yggdrasil and believed their master was going to set up an eternal utopia, and thus used that perceived end to justify the means. Eventually, Yggdrasil captured Dorumon and used his data to create an army of DexDoruGreymon that would seek out anything with a DigiCore and devour it, eliminating any Digimon and preventing Yggdrasil from shutting down due to strain. This caused a few members of the Royal Knights to question Yggdrasil, but it took Gallantmon joining a resistance group after gaining his own X-Antibody and Dorumon returning to his Mega form of Alphamon to convince Omnimon to openly rebel. While Gallantmon fought the army of DexDoruGreymon, Omnimon and Alphamon went to confront Yggdrasil directly. Seeing the confrontation coming, Yggdrasil created Dexmon from Alphamon's data, and ensured that Dexmon's life would be bound to Alphamon. With no other way to reach Yggdrasil, Alphamon sacrificed himself and gave his X-Antibody to Omnimon, who destroyed Yggdrasil and reset the Digital World."

"Unfortunately, the lack of a clear ruler in the recently liberated Digital World could not have come at a worse time. The ultimate being of darkness, GranDracmon, had been left behind on the old Digital World, yet survived by developing his own X-Antibody. Upon his arrival in the new Digital World, he was hunted by many members of the Royal Knights. His strength was much greater than theirs, so he survived all the encounters, but their constant attacks on top of Yggdrasil's betrayal angered him to the point he started a massive war as he sought to avenge all of the wrongs Yggdrasil had committed on the old Digital World. The main target of his anger was Shakamon, the ultimate being of light who had been the closest to Yggdrasil. Shakamon and GranDracmon fought in an enormous battle that threatened to tear the world apart. This battle resulted in the death of all but two of the Royal Knights, all but a handful of X-Antibody Digimon, and a majority of the remaining population. Without Yggdrasil to provide order, the world fell into chaos. What happened next is something we are unable to know for sure, but something caused Shakamon and GranDracmon both to disappear from the Digital World. They are both too powerful for us to see what happened, but it is clear that the loss of the two strongest combatants in the war left the two armies confused, and regrettably turned the world into a very primitive place. Over time, the two sides of the conflict shifted from GranDracmon's army against Shakamon's army to human-type Digimon against Beast-type Digimon. Even though the two strongest combatants had disappeared, the length of the newest conflict nearly resulted in the elimination of all life in the Digital World, until an Angel Digimon named Lucemon suddenly descended into the world and brought order and harmony."

"While Lucemon had succeeded in restoring peace to the world, he eventually became overconfident in his power. By this time, the true knowledge of the beginning of the conflict had faded from memory, leaving only rumors. One of these rumors blamed GranDracmon for the start of the war, which was technically true but failed to cover the justification for his actions. Seeing GranDracmon as a threat to the order of the world, and more importantly his own power, Lucemon sought to find and destroy the beast. He somehow managed to find GranDracmon in the Dark Area, and engaged in a colossal battle. While we are unable to know exactly what happened in that fight, as GranDracmon is capable of hiding any of his actions from us, what is clear is Lucemon failed to defeat his opponent and returned to rule the Digital World. This in and of itself was a surprise: GranDracmon is quite possibly the strongest Digimon in existence, possessing an undying body and the ability to seal away the hearts of any opponents, and Lucemon managed to survive his battle and return. However, something during that fight changed Lucemon. Perhaps it was coming into contact with such strong darkness that he was unprepared to face, but upon his return, Lucemon had been driven insane with his own power. While he had always been a little too proud of his power, he had still ruled fairly prior to his battle with GranDracmon. After the fight, Lucemon began viewing the entire world and all of its inhabitants as his own playthings. He became an insatiable tyrant, and inspired a rebellion among the other Digimon. From these oppressed Digimon, ten incredibly powerful Mega-level Digimon with powers tied to the elements of the world itself bravely engaged Lucemon in battle, finally managing to seal him away within the Dark Area to prevent him from causing further harm to the world and earning the title of the Ten Legendary Warriors."

"However, despite their victory, the Legendary Warriors were drained of power, and knew they would not be able to survive much longer due to their injuries. To ensure lasting peace, they consulted with two different groups of Mega level Digimon on how to best handle running the Digital World. These two groups were the Celestial Digimon, composed of Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Cherubimon, and the thirteen Olympians. It was at this time we consulted the ancient history of the Digital World, and realized it was necessary to split the functions of ruling and maintaining the world to prevent a repeat of what had happened with Yggdrasil and Lucemon where too much power caused a formerly benign ruler to destroy life. So, at this time, the Celestial Digimon were appointed the rulers of the Digital World, while all of the Olympians with the exception of Plutomon swore to remain neutral from conflicts and ensure the world stayed safe. In order to help us with our cause, we recreated a piece of Yggdrasil that would serve as a conduit for us to interact with the world and maintain balance. We named this fragment Homeostasis, and this was the entity that spoke through Kari in order to inform you of how you became DigiDestined the first time. With our neutral position settled, we took the moniker of the Olympos XII and moved our home to a secret location, where we would be less likely to be dragged into conflict."

"Our departure left the dying Legendary Warriors and the Celestial Digimon to handle the problem of actually ruling the Digital World. The Legendary Warriors knew they had only temporarily defeated Lucemon and he would one day return. Hoping to delay that return, AncientGreymon, the Legendary Warrior of Flame, encased the entire Dark Area with a Wall of Fire, but even with this precaution, the Legendary Warriors believed a time would come when their power would once again be needed to fight Lucemon. As such, they divided their power into twenty Spirits, with each warrior creating a Human Spirit and a Beast Spirit for its respective element. They entrusted these spirits to the care of the Celestial Digimon, before passing the remainder of their abilities along the lines of various types of Digimon. Thus, the world once again entered an era of peace, ruled by the Celestial Digimon and watched over by the Olympos XII."

"Unfortunately, like all eras of peace in the Digital World, this one was short lived. Most of the problem was due to the makeup of the Celestial Digimon themselves. While the Celestials were all friends, the fact that the world was ruled by two Human Digimon and one Beast Digimon so soon after a great conflict between those two groups caused a good deal of resentment. Cherubimon felt the other two were making laws only to benefit human Digimon, and seeing the other two planning together without him caused him to despair for the rights of the Beast Digimon he so loved. This despair made him vulnerable, and Lucemon used this vulnerability in a way nobody predicted: he reached his influence beyond the Wall of Fire despite remaining physically trapped and corrupted Cherubimon into his evil Virus form. In this form, he waged war on the other two Celestials, striking down Seraphimon and capturing Ophanimon when she offered her freedom in exchange for Seraphimon's life. Cherubimon then brought four of the spirits of the Legendary Warriors to life and used them to begin absorbing the data of the world itself, believing he was making himself all-powerful while in reality he was destabilizing the barrier with the Dark Area and setting the way for Lucemon's return."

"With no other hope for saving the world, Ophanimon called out to us for help. While we had sworn not to get directly involved, we realized we had another option: if a human had saved the Digital World from ZeedMillenniummon, perhaps more humans could save the world now. We allowed Ophanimon to call the human world for help, but at that time, human technology had not evolved to the point where they could receive the call. Thus, we manipulated time slightly to allow the call to be sent to what was for the Digital World the distant future, which happened to coincide with the rampage of another Cherubimon in your world shortly after Ken renounced his Digimon Emperor persona. Many children answered the call, but only five were chosen to bond with the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors. In the commotion, Cherubimon also managed to pull in another human child and create the last legendary warrior, resulting in five Legendary Warriors on each side of the conflict. The five children Ophanimon had called in somehow managed to overcome countless obstacles, free the sixth child from Cherubimon's control, and destroy Cherubimon before Lucemon could be revived, but Lucemon did not let this stop him and called in the last two members of the Royal Knights. While these two knights may not have fully agreed with Lucemon's methods, they had sworn to serve him just as they had sworn to serve Yggdrasil. Despite the constant resistance of the children, the Royal Knights managed to absorb the data for the entire Digital World, freeing Lucemon. However, Lucemon betrayed the Royal Knights and absorbed their data, allowing him to Digivolve from his Rookie form capable of destroying moons to his Ultimate form capable of destroying the barrier between the Digital and human worlds. Seeking to rule both worlds, he was poised to conquer the human world, but the children refused to give up and united all 20 spirits, successfully beating Lucemon's Ultimate and Mega forms. Their jobs completed, the children returned to their world while the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors fragmented Lucemon's data and sent it back to the Dark Area. To ensure something of this scale could never happen again, we reformatted the Digital World to its current state, strengthening the Wall of Fire and hoping to prevent any dark influence from entering the rest of the world."

"While the world was safer from the Dark Area than it had ever been in the past, many high-ranking Angel Digimon believed sealing away the problem was not a permanent enough solution. These Digimon used their power to enter the Dark Area in the hopes of destroying GranDracmon and preventing him from influencing anyone else. Predictably, these Digimon fared worse than Lucemon: GranDracmon's dark influence must have caused them to fall into corruption and shift into viral forms of themselves. After four unsuccessful attempts, Ophanimon and Seraphimon of the Celestial Digimon decided to try together, but enacted a failsafe in case their combined might was not enough. They left all twenty spirits in the care of Cherubimon, and then created another barrier around the Dark Area that combined the strength of both Hope and Light. This barrier could only be traversed if the world was destabilized, or beings blessed with powerful doses of both Hope and Light opened the way. In doing so, they created a scenario where they would either succeed in destroying the darkness, or fall and ensure everyone within the Dark Area remained sealed by losing contact with the light."

"Of course, GranDracmon proved to be too powerful for Ophanimon and Seraphimon, and they became their own evil counterparts. While this did ensure the maintenance of the seal, it was not as foolproof as Ophanimon and Seraphimon had hoped. GranDracmon managed to warp his prison enough to create a gate between the Dark Area and the outside world. This gate, the Gate of the Seven Deadly Sins, only required the smallest traces of Light and Hope to create a tunnel after it was opened. Luckily for the rest of the world, this gate required seven keys, and GranDracmon needed the keys to be placed from the outside. Since it would be much easier for other creatures to make use of smaller distortions to cross the barrier, GranDracmon entrusted the seven keys to the seven Digimon who had fallen after fighting him: the Code Key of Pride was given to Lucemon, who had managed to reform himself again; the Code Key of Envy was given to Leviamon; the Code Key of Wrath was given to Daemon, formerly the Celestial Digimon Seraphimon; the Code Key of Sloth was given to Belphemon; the Code Key of Greed was given to Barbamon; the Code Key of Gluttony was given to Beelzemon, and the Code Key of Lust was given to Lilithmon, formerly the Celestial Digimon Ophanimon. Each of these keys boosted their wielder's power beyond what they could achieve on their own, yet came at a cost: they were forever bound in their corrupted forms, would revert to a Code Key instead of a Digi-Egg upon defeat, and would forever trap the data of anybody they destroyed within their own bodies or the Dark Area. It was this last ability that caused the Digital World to greatly fear this group, now known as the Seven Great Demon Lords."

"While the history of the Digital World has many more interesting stories to tell, you now have the background necessary to understand exactly what you are facing. While you have only encountered Lilithmon, the truth is all of the Demon Lords are currently working on a plan to open the Gate of the Seven Deadly Sins, releasing GranDracmon from the Dark Area and enshrouding both the human and Digital worlds in darkness. The Demon Lords will then rule the two shrouded worlds. This plan came into fruition after you banished Daemon to the Dark Ocean: the barrier between the Dark Area and the Dark Ocean is significantly weaker than the barrier between the Digital World and the Dark Area, and Daemon managed to begin pulling other Demon Lords out of the Dark Area. As it stands, they already have six Demon Lords as well as the Digimentals of Hope and Light gathered on an island within the Dark Ocean, so they will soon be able to open the Gate. If that happens, you will be unable to stop GranDracmon, and both worlds will be conquered by darkness. As soon as your Digimon, as well as those of your friends, recover from their most recent battles, I suggest you head there immediately. However, be warned that we will not provide any further help in this matter. The Demon Lords are seeking to conquer, not destroy, the world. As such, we will not get involved. Providing you with information is something we would do regardless of side, and it may very well be that one of the Demon Lords shows up after you leave, and in that case I would tell them a similar story that would reveal your current plans."

While Joe, Cody, and Yolei all appeared to be struggling trying to process this massive information dump, Izzy merely nodded his head after finishing typing out a copy of Minervamon's story. "Okay, Minervamon, thank you for all of your information. It sounds like we really don't have time to waste, so I guess I'll have to save my many questions for another visit. Though as we leave, could I simply ask if everyone else is okay after the last battle you mentioned?"

Minervamon smiled. "Oh, four of the Digimon were knocked unconscious along with two of the DigiDestined, but there should be no lasting trouble. It will take a bit of time, but everyone will recover. And, since it isn't often I get a visitor who enjoys listening to my stories, I shall give you a present, Koushiro Izumi." With this, Minerva waved her hand, and Izzy's laptop was covered with a faint golden glow before returning to normal. "I have given you the ability to send messages directly to me. Now, I can't guarantee an immediate response, but if you seek an audience with me, I shall be willing to oblige. I will respond with a time you can meet with me, and then you can use your programing skills to send yourself here. Now, I know I cannot help you further in this instance, but for what it is worth, I wish you luck in saving your teammates and stopping the Demon Lords."

The DigiDestined all thanked Minervamon once again for her hospitality and her wish of good luck before they exited the temple. With the Demon Lords so close to unleashing ultimate darkness upon both worlds, they were all beginning to feel a much greater pressure than the looming unease they had felt at Lilithmon's unknown plan. Now, they had to return to the real world, regroup with the others, and then plan a raid on the Dark Ocean to hopefully stop the impending fall into darkness.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, congratulations on making it through the history class! I hope it was at least slightly interesting to see how I tied together Adventure, Frontier, and the X-Evolution movie. If you think this chapter was bad, at least it was all together. I don't know how many different sites I had to go to in order to get all the official chronologies and then tie them together. It was like writing a research paper, so hopefully putting all the results together will at least make it easier for everybody to reference if any questions come up in the future. After all, it would be pointless for me to tell all this history if it wouldn't actually matter at some point in the future, wouldn't it? Some of the things not directly related to the current plan with the Gate of the Seven Deadly Sins will be brought back later in the series. If any of you are still going to stick around after that wall of exposition, you can feel free to review or message me with anything. I hope I didn't scare all of you away…


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't know if anybody bothers reading these, but I feel the need to say it anyway: I don't own Digimon.

Kari groaned as she slowly started to wake up. Feeling that she was on a bed, she tried to remember exactly how she had ended up here. The last thing she remembered, she had been fighting against BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon. Puppetmon and Ornismon had both been defeated, then TK had fallen on top of her and-

As soon as that memory returned to her, Kari suddenly bolted upright in her bed. However, the unfamiliar color of the walls made her quickly realize she wasn't actually in her own bed. Looking around trying to piece together where she was, she noticed Yolei sitting in a chair by the door, smiling at her. "About time you woke up, sleeping beauty. Did you enjoy your little nap?"

"Yolei, what are you doing here? For that matter, where exactly is here? I don't remember anything much after the middle of the fight."

"Hey, take it easy for a bit. You probably would know where you are if Mimi, Sora and I hadn't cleaned out two weeks of trash out of here. We're at your brother's apartment. We're having a meeting later to go over all the details of what happened, so I'll skip over all of that for now. Anyway, we got back from meeting with Minervamon just as Davis and Ken managed to get everyone to a gate back to Earth. Now, we had four unconscious Digimon and two unconscious humans, so we obviously needed a place to go where we wouldn't get questioned too much. So, Sora used her spare key to let us in to Matt and Tai's place since her roommate was still using her room and we wouldn't all fit, while the guys are all staying at Joe's place. I'm not sure if your parents fully bought the stories we told them about you and TK staying with us, but they eventually let it go. So, now that you're finally awake, I can call in Mimi and Sora. We've got some things we really need to talk about before the meeting."

With that, Yolei left the room, quickly returning with Salamon, Yokomon, and Tanemon. As Kari saw the looks on her three friends' faces, she couldn't help but swallow a bit of apprehension. Noticing Yolei's Digimon was missing, Kari quickly asked if Hawkmon was okay. Yolei just smirked. "Oh, he's just fine. He's just getting everything gathered up for us to go to the meeting. We're supposed to head back to the temple as soon as you wake up, but we really needed some girl time first. Now, can you just imagine my shock when Mimi and Sora told me you spent an entire fight holding hands with a certain blond DigiDestined? Add that to the fact that your parents asked if TK was still sleeping over when we called to tell them about you staying with us, and I can't help but feel like I've been left out of some important information. Now, we are going to spend some quality time talking about this new development…"

By the time the girls arrived at the temple an hour later, they found everybody else sitting in a circle in the courtyard, discussing the latest happenings amongst themselves. With the additional wait, all the Digimon except Tokomon and Salamon had returned to their usual forms. As Yolei greeted the group, Kari noticeably tried avoiding eye contact with anybody. TK went up to her to ask if she was okay, but when all he got for a response was a blush and a quick "I'm fine" followed by giggling from the other three girls, he thought it would be best to give her a little bit of space. Luckily, Izzy managed to stop the situation from becoming too awkward.

"Hey, Sora or Mimi, could I borrow one of your Digivices? TK said he kept blacking out at the start of the fight, and I wanted to see if that could have been caused by one of the Digimon." As he said this, he pulled out an ancient looking yellow laptop, causing Yolei to interject. "Wow Izzy, could you get a more obsolete computer? That thing must be ten years old. I know you love computers, but why do you still have that?"

"Yes, Yolei, it is very old. I've had this since our first trip to the Digital World. Believe me, most of its abilities are far surpassed by my new laptop, but this one was modified by Gennai to be able to analyze Digimon anybody else has seen. Sure, I've got a more advanced analyzer on my current computer, but only this old computer has a hookup to interface with a Digivice. I can't exactly make a new computer compatible with a Digivice on my own, since I deal more with software than hardware. It's the same reason we all keep our D-Terminals despite far better technology being available now. Of course, being that old does have the drawback of being designed to communicate with the first generation Digivice, so I couldn't just scan TK's D3 to see everything. Hence why I need Mimi or Sora's Digivice."

With his explanation out of the way, Sora handed over her Digivice, allowing Izzy to start the scan. Seeing the list of Ultimate and Mega level Virus Digimon, Izzy couldn't help but gasp in shock. Sora cut him off before he could start exclaiming anything about the list, telling him that most of the forms were actually on their side before directing him towards NeoDevimon, as that would be the most likely source for a problem that was only affecting TK.

Getting over his brief surprise, Izzy pulled up NeoDevimon's file, and immediately was able to determine the cause of TK's strange symptoms. "Well, this explains everything. NeoDevimon is supposedly an artificially augmented Devimon. Think the equivalent of MetalGreymon to Greymon, but in NeoDevimon's case, something must have gone wrong. According to this, NeoDevimon was too powerful and too destructive, so it was altered to wear a golden mask to contain its power and completely sap its will. Some of that loss of will must have bounced across to TK due to his connection with NeoDevimon. From this, it's amazing that Kari managed to get TK to return to his senses at all."

This last statement elicited another blush from Kari and chuckles from the other girls, leaving Izzy confused as to what exactly he had said. Seeing Kari's embarrassment, Ken decided to step in and change the subject. "Okay, so that settles one question. What were some of the other Digimon present at the fight? I didn't arrive until the very end, and we were more focused on getting out of there than paying attention to everything that was going on. It'll be good to know what forces the enemy can command if we're going to be attacking them soon."

Izzy nodded and returned to his list. "Right. Judging from the fact that TK succeeded in Dark Digivolving to NeoDevimon and everybody else was also working on the Ultimate level, I think it's safe to assume the profiles in here for Devimon, NeoDevimon, LadyDevimon, Saberdramon, Karatenmon, Woodmon, and Cherrymon were actually on our side. That still means Lilithmon attacked with the help of BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon, Puppetmon, Ornismon, Wisemon, and Daemon. How exactly did you four manage to hold out against six Megas and an Ultimate with only four Ultimates?"

Mimi suddenly jumped up with excitement. "Oh, we had a very good reason to survive. Palmon, how about we show off our new trick?" Palmon smiled in agreement, and Mimi's Crest and Digivice both began to glow black with green accents. Palmon began glowing a deep purple before calling out, "Palmon, Dark Warp Digivolve to… Puppetmon!" At the appearance of the Puppet Digimon, Izzy and Joe could only gasp in shock, while Mimi began laughing. "Wow, if you two could only see the looks on your faces. You don't have to worry; this Puppetmon is still on our side. Palmon and I actually don't have any issues controlling our Dark forms. It's a bit rougher on the other three, though. Sora can also go to Mega, though Biyomon can't quite control herself as Ornismon." With this, Puppetmon began glowing again and shrank back down into Tanemon. "Really, the only issue we have is we haven't quite gotten the hang of going back to Rookie whenever we finish. That will probably just be a time thing, though, since it took WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon a bit to reach that stage too. Anyway, back to the battle, the only enemies we actually fought were BlackWarGreymon, BlackMetalGarurumon, and some weird robed guy who I'm guessing is Wisemon, since he was too small to be Daemon. And now that I think back, Lilithmon and Daemon were never even there. You must have pulled up some of the wrong data."

"No, that can't be right. According to this, Daemon and Lilithmon were scanned between Ornismon and Imperialdramon. Since I'm looking at the files in chronological order, that means Lilithmon and Daemon had to have shown themselves in between when Biyomon went to Mega and when Imperialdramon came in to save you. Was there anything unusual that happened in that time frame that could have distracted you and caused you to not notice the brief presence of two Demon Lords?"

This time, it was Sora's turn to respond. "Well I guess we could have missed something when TK and Kari started—wait a minute. That all fits! TK and Kari started Digivolving to Mega and released a surge of dark energy much larger than Mimi or I did. Right when that happened, this Wisemon guy attacked instead of sitting back like he had for the rest of the fight. It was like he totally freaked at what TK and Kari were doing, which makes sense if he was working for the Demon Lords and they were about to call out two of them!"

While Mimi agreed with Sora, everybody else just looked confused. Finally, TK had to just ask the question that was on everybody's minds. "What exactly are you talking about? I don't really remember much about NeoDevimon Digivolving, and after that I was unconscious, so I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what went on. I'm sure everybody else who wasn't there would like to hear the whole story anyway, and then we need to hear how the meeting with Minervamon went, so why don't we get started. We probably can't afford to waste too much time here."

When everybody gathered agreed to his proposal, Mimi and Sora began telling the story of their battle against Wisemon, with Kari and TK helping out for whatever parts they could actually remember. Yolei noticed some key details missing, but decided now would not be the best time to bring them up. After they had finished their story, the other group took their turn, with all of them recapping the trials on the journey before turning the floor over to Izzy, who did his best to give a brief recap of Minervamon's story.

After Izzy finished his recap, Davis immediately took charge. "Okay, I may not have followed that entire history lesson, but it sounds like we have to hurry up and stop the Seven Demon Lords from opening this gate thingy and unleashing the source of most of the darkness in the Digital World. So, we need to get into the Dark Ocean as soon as possible and destroy at least one of the Demon Lords. That should take away one of the keys and then the gate should stay shut."

However, Ken brought up a few issues with this. "That's all good in theory, but it has a few major problems. From what we've seen so far, the Demon Lords are all able to absorb data. Even if we blow a few of them up, their stray data might be absorbed by one of the others, including the Code Key. We either need to destroy all seven or somehow capture one and destroy them as far away from the others as possible. Of course, none of that even matters, since we still aren't sure how to get into the Dark Ocean. And even when we get in, we'll have to fight against seven opponents who are all about as strong as Lilithmon, and in case you didn't notice, she's been trouncing us this entire time."

"Hey," Davis responded, "give me a little credit here. Did you honestly think I didn't have a plan? Sure, Lilithmon has beaten us without even trying, but that was either before we knew what she was capable of or when we weren't up to full strength. Now, we won't be surprised when she stops us from Digivolving and we can be careful to avoid her other attacks. Plus, we are a lot stronger than we ever were before. If all of us go to our strongest forms, she won't stand a chance. The way I see it, we'll go at her with Imperialdramon, Plesiomon, HerculesKabuterimon, Puppetmon, Ornismon, Aquilamon, and Ankylomon. As for your point about how we can get into the Dark Ocean, I direct your attention to the two Digimon I haven't mentioned yet. Now, from the Digimon Analyzer's info on the last battle, Patamon and Gatomon both Dark Digivolve into Demon Lords at the Mega level. Now, Minervamon said the Demon Lords could draw other Demon Lords too them across dimensional boundaries. Maybe we can use that against them. If TK and Kari can handle Dark Digivolving, it might give exactly the push we need to cross from the Digital World into the Dark Ocean just like the other Demon Lords can get from the Dark Area to the Dark Ocean."

"That sounds great in theory, Davis," TK interrupted, "but aren't you betting a lot on our ability to control our Mega levels? Now, Gatomon did a very good job handling the Ultimate level, and the only issue was Kari getting hurt, but Kari has that worked out now. So, she should be able to handle the Mega level just fine. However, I didn't fare nearly as well. When Patamon became NeoDevimon, I couldn't do anything on my own. I'm not even sure I'll be able to get to Mega, let alone control whatever happens."

Davis wasn't dissuaded. "I realize that, but I really don't think we have any other options at this point. Unless you've got some magical portal to the Dark Ocean you haven't told us about, we can't get in. And if the Demon Lords are as close to succeeding as Minervamon said they were, I don't think we have the option of waiting for them to come to us. Either we attack them, or we sit back and wait for the end of the world. As for controlling yourself, we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there. We can't afford to think too much about this. We just have to charge in and _hope_ for the best."

TK rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Davis. I bet you've been planning that line for this entire speech. Anyway, I guess you are right that we don't really have any other options here, but we will have to wait a little bit. I'm not sure how Salamon is feeling, but Tokomon will need a bit of a break before he's ready to try Digivolving again. So, we may as well use the time to work out a bit of a plan. After all, if Kari and I do manage to open the gate, we don't want to get sucked into the Dark Ocean with nothing but Rookies and get hit with Black Requiem before can do anything about it."

"Relax, I got it covered. We'll all Digivolve right before you two do. That way, we'll have Fighter Mode and all of our Megas standing by for when you two go and open the gate."

Sora quickly interjected. "Sorry Davis, but I've got a small problem with your plan. You said you wanted Ornismon, but Biyomon and I haven't quite gotten that under control yet. If we're going as soon as TK and Kari are ready, I don't have time to practice either. Since Biyomon and I are stuck at Ultimate, I think we'll go with Garudamon since we have more experience with that form. Do you think you and Ken could get Imperialdramon into his Paladin Mode to cover the difference?"

This time, it was Ken who answered. "Unfortunately, Sora, we've tried to do that and it didn't work. Apparently the energy required to Mode Change to Paladin Mode is way too high for Davis and me to get on our own. We only managed to do that against Armageddemon because Omnimon transferred all his energy to us. Since we need Matt and Tai for Omnimon and we don't have either of those two at the moment, Fighter Mode is as high as we can go. Looks like my Crest of Kindness won't really be much help this time around…"

Davis was quick to console his best friend. "Hey, don't worry about it Ken. We went through way too much work sifting through that desert to find it for it to be useless. Besides, we've managed to do some serious damage with Fighter Mode before, so we'll be just fine. Though, thanks for pointing out that issue now Sora instead of waiting until later. Does anybody else have anything they'd like to say that could make us adjust the plan slightly?"

Mimi answered this time. "Well, it's nothing major, but you said you wanted Puppetmon in this fight. Don't worry, I agree that Tanemon and I should do that because even with our inexperience Puppetmon is still stronger than Lillymon, but we'll have to wait a bit. If I had known we were going to fight so soon, I wouldn't have shown off Puppetmon like I did. Tanemon will need a bit of time to recover her energy before she can go back to her Mega form so quickly."

Tanemon shook her head. "Hey, don't worry about me, Mimi. It's not like I really did anything as Puppetmon anyway. I didn't lose that much energy. Just give me little time and a snack, and I bet I'll be ready before everyone else."

Davis nodded. "Tanemon has a point. We've only got a little bit of time before the fight, so everybody do what you have to do to get ready. If you need a snack, a rest, whatever, do it now since we won't have any time later."

Everybody agreed with this plan, and they each went their own separate ways to get just a little bit of space to mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. Of course, they stuck within earshot of each other so they would be able to hear when everybody else was ready, yet each took some time to quietly deal with their nervousness on their own. After all, they weren't used to receiving prior notice with a battle this large. They had always either actively sought their enemies or been suddenly thrown into a battle, and rarely had to sit and wait. The only time they had done this previously was when guarding the Destiny Stones from the first BlackWarGreymon, but that hadn't gone particularly well. So, the DigiDestined were taking the time to conquer their own nerves and mentally prepare for the fight while their partners readied themselves physically.

Kari took advantage of the lull by going off on her own for a little bit. After all, she didn't have any memories between attempting to have LadyDevimon Digivolve and her conversation with Sora, Mimi, and Yolei, so she just needed time to rest her mind before jumping into the next difficult situation. Also, being alone finally allowed her to escape her own embarrassment, as she hadn't really been able to avoid the looks on Sora, Mimi, and Yolei's faces whenever she so much as looked at TK. Luckily, she would now be able to—

"Hey, Kari, are you okay? You've looked like something has been bothering you this whole time." Sure enough, TK was walking right up to her, sending any chances of quietly gathering her thoughts straight to the Dark Ocean. Just imagining how the other girls would react if they saw her and TK alone in the woods was enough to embarrass Kari, which TK unfortunately noticed. "Kari? What's wrong?"

Hearing the concern in his voice, Kari quickly recovered enough to answer him. "Oh, sorry about that TK. It's just so much has been going on, and now we're planning on barging into the Dark Ocean and I'm just really nervous and—" _Oh, get a hold of yourself, Kari. I'm sure looking like a scared little girl is exactly what you want to do right now. And the babbling really isn't helping your cause. He'll probably figure out why you're nervous in the first place at this rate._ As her mind finally caught up to her mouth, Kari quickly stopped talking, only to realize that cutting off mid-sentence was probably worse than her babbling. However, TK didn't seem to notice it, as he seemed preoccupied as well.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense. After all, this can't be easy on you. This is going to be what, your third time in the Dark Ocean?" _Yeah, smooth move there, TK. Why not just bring up some horrible memories when she's feeling down. That has to end well. _"Not that it's really your fault you've been there before. At least this time you haven't been kidnapped." _Bit of advice: don't try getting out of a hole by digging down. _"Sorry, that didn't come out right. What I meant to say was you were being very brave by doing this on your own. I don't know if I could do the same thing. Even now, I'm worried about how I'll handle this instead of how you will." _So, telling her you aren't worried at all about her? You could save a lot of time and money by just hitting yourself in the head with that shovel you used to dig this giant hole. _"Not that I don't care about you. I just know you're strong enough to take care of yourself. I care about you a lot." _WHACK!_ "I mean, not like, uh, well, I do, but… this talk really isn't going that well, is it?"

Kari couldn't help but start to smile at his antics. "Hey, it might not have been the most elegant way of saying something, but at least it made me smile. Besides, you're really cute when you're nervous." _Oh why did I just say that? Why did I just say that?!_ It took all of Kari's restraint to stop herself from slapping herself, but TK actually looked relieved to hear her say that.

"Thanks, Kari, that's nice to hear. I guess I must be really cute right now, since I've been freaking out about this whole thing." _Wow, that sentence was really manly. Good job! _"Uh, anyway, the main reason I've been worried is what we have to do to even get in the Dark Ocean in the first place. I'm sure you'll manage to go to Mega just fine, since you mastered Ultimate so quickly, but I haven't even managed to do that yet. And of course, I just happen to lose my free will when Patamon becomes NeoDevimon, so the only way I can think of getting beyond that is having you snap me out of it. Guess we'll just have to hold hands again." _Did you really just make holding her hand sound like a horrible thing? _"Not that that's a bad thing, but it will be weird doing it in front of everybody else. It was actually really nice holding your hand last time." _Yeah, you notice that you're starting to sweat? That's probably because you've dug yourself a hole so deep that you're about to hit the center of the earth. _"I mean—"

TK took a deep breath and realized he really didn't have anything more to lose, so decided to just say what was on his mind now instead of waiting until after this was all over. "Look, Kari, I know this isn't really the best time to bring this up, but when this is over and we end up winning this, would you, maybe, want to catch a movie sometime? Well, wait, we always do that together anyway- what I mean is, would you want to go out with me?" TK winced as his voice awkwardly cracked on the last three words, and the look of shock that crossed Kari's face certainly didn't help him. Kari managed to stammer out, "Did…you…just…ask…me…out?" before TK began furiously backpedaling. "It's fine. I understand. The world's about to end, our brothers are kidnapped, it could ruin our friendship, there's plenty of reasons why that's a bad idea. I'm sorry I—"

Finally, Kari managed to shake off the shock and interrupt him. "I never said no! I'd be happy to go out with you. In fact, I was planning on asking you out after our nice relaxing week of vacation in the Digital World, but that obviously didn't work out so well. Of course, I wasn't sure exactly how to do it since we already go to movies and concerts with just the two of us that I couldn't think of a way to make it obvious I was asking you out on a date instead of just hanging out together. I guess I finally figured out why everybody else says we were practically dating. Oh my gosh, everybody else! Sora, Mimi, and Yolei pretty much interrogated me about you this morning, and if they find out that we actually have a date set up, what will they think? Oh, who cares? We're going on a date! Why am I still talking? You probably think I'm just babbling. I really need to stop that."

However, TK didn't seem to notice her babbling, as one question kept coming to his mind. Finally, he had to voice it. "Wait, did you just say yes?" Not trusting herself to answer verbally without taking up a full minute, Kari simply nodded. TK's eyes suddenly lit up much brighter than Kari could ever remember seeing, "Wow. Just…wow. That's great! So, what times are you free, and what do you want to—"

However, before he could finish his sentence, TK was interrupted by Yolei's voice yelling from the original meeting place. "Hey, TK and Kari! Palmon, Patamon, and Gatomon are all ready to go. Would you two lovebirds hurry up and get back here?"

TK blushed at the interruption. "Well, I suppose we really need to get back. Also, lovebirds? What was that about?"

Kari smiled. "It's a long story. Now, how about we go save the world so we can plan out that date?"

Davis couldn't help but notice something different about TK and Kari as they went to join the group. Earlier, they had been scared about the upcoming mission to storm the Dark Ocean, with only an obviously fake layer of optimism hiding their true feelings. However, now they almost seemed eager to start the mission, and couldn't keep genuine happiness off of their faces. He was curious over what could have caused the change, but decided he wouldn't ask questions right now. Seeing as TK and Kari were essential for the upcoming raid, he was just glad they were willing to help and wouldn't tempt fate by questioning them. He also decided now was not the time to question Yolei's shocked expression and urgent mutterings with the other two girls, and was glad to have Joe and Izzy here so he wasn't the only one out of the loop on what everybody else was thinking. However, he didn't have time to whine about this, as he was about to lead the DigiDestined on his most dangerous mission yet- he was about to invade the enemy's territory, and this enemy featured seven Digimon who were all as powerful, if not more so, than MaloMyotismon. He couldn't afford to lose focus.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's get this mission started. Everybody remember what to do? We all go to our highest forms except TK and Kari. Then, they go to Mega through Dark Digivolution and hopefully open a gate that pulls us all into the Dark Ocean. Then, we fight like crazy until we save Matt and Tai, beat the Demon Lords, and stop them from unleashing an ancient being of darkness. Now, I can't say where exactly in the Dark Ocean we'll end up, but we could very well be in the middle of all seven Demon Lords as soon as we get there, so we'll have to be ready for anything. I suggest we all get in a circle with humans in the middle and Digimon on the outside, since that will give us the best protection we can have."

Everybody nodded and pulled out their Digivices. Soon, all the Digimon except Patamon and Gatomon were glowing as they achieved a higher form. After numerous form changes, Plesiomon, HerculesKabuterimon, Puppetmon, Garudamon, Aquilamon, Ankylomon, and Imperialdramon in his Fighter Mode were enclosed in a partial circle around the DigiDestined, leaving some space for Patamon and Gatomon when they achieved their Mega forms. With everyone else ready, TK and Kari focused on trying to reach the Mega level. At first, they both stopped at the Ultimate level, and Kari had to grab TK's hand to stop him from spacing out completely. Ignoring everybody else's stares, the two began thinking back to the last time they had achieved Mega and replicated those feelings. LadyDevimon was immediately enshrouded by a deep purple glow, and a shockwave of dark energy spread from her location as a green symbol began appearing where she had been standing as well as on Kari's Crest. A few seconds later, the same thing happened to NeoDevimon, with the only difference being his orange symbol was slightly different than her green symbol. As a second shockwave lanced out, the two masses of dark energy crashed against each other, seeming to create a vortex in midair. Ken was uncomfortably reminded of the Dark Whirlpool, but what happened next made his discomfort seem minor in comparison: the entire group was suddenly sucked into the vortex and sent hurling through an inter-dimensional portal. Surprisingly, the portal itself no longer looked dark, with strange columns of blue and green light surrounding them as they flew towards the exit, represented by a small white dot within a large black circle. However, Ken didn't have much time to enjoy the tunnel, as the sudden feeling at the back of his neck told him he was heading directly towards the Dark Ocean once again, and this time he would not be able to escape by defeating one Ultimate Digimon.

Lilithmon was shocked to suddenly feel the same pull on her she had felt right before Wisemon had returned from his battle with the DigiDestined. It felt as if she was suddenly in two places at once, which was seriously unnerving. However, before she could begin to wonder what this all meant she was suddenly blasted with a massive blast of orange fire and sent crashing into the ground. Recognizing this attack, she was quick to address her attacker.

"Wow, Daemon, I must say you've gotten really good at hiding your power. I didn't even feel you coming. Of course, you seem to have forgotten to actually use that power when you attack. Your Evil Inferno should be able to destroy me, yet this barely singed my robe." Picking herself up, Lilithmon began flying out of the flames. "Still, I'm quite partial to this robe, so I'll have to ask you to kindly stop attacking your ally, or at least let me take it—what?"

Lilithmon had finally managed to clear herself from the flames, but seeing who attacked her brought much less clarity than she had hoped. She had correctly pegged her attacker as Daemon, but the real shock was not that her ally had betrayed her, but the current company he was keeping. Behind him was a pile containing all the members of the DigiDestined, whose partners were all in their highest forms and picking themselves off the ground. However, when the Garudamon regained her footing, Lilithmon saw something even more shocking- a second Lilithmon. Suddenly everything clicked into place.

"Wow, I really have to hand it to you humans. From the looks of things, you've somehow managed to create a portal to the Dark Ocean and attack just before our plan moves into its final stage. Five of you even unlocked the Mega level since the last time I saw you. Still, it's a shame, because you being here completely ruins the purpose of sending them to your world."

Lilithmon gestured upward, and the DigiDestined couldn't help but gasp in shock. Flying overhead was a veritable army of Digimon, many of which were too small to identify. However, Izzy managed to pick out some of the larger forms as belonging to Devidramon and Airdramon before they began shimmering out of existence. Seeing their reaction, Lilithmon couldn't help but grin. "Yes, quite impressive, isn't it? However, this force was designed for the sole purpose of keeping you busy on Earth while we entered the most vulnerable stage of our plan. It's mainly low level pawns, but they still would have kept you busy as they attacked all over the globe. An utter shame you won't be there to stop them. I guess they'll just have to satisfy their bloodlust on the other humans they encounter, won't they?"

Hearing this, the DigiDestined couldn't help but express their anger in various ways. For most of them, it took the form of glares, but TK skipped that step and immediately ordered Daemon to attack Lilithmon. Seeing this, Kari sent her own partner after the evil Demon Lord, and the two newly achieved Megas struggled with their enemy. Using the distraction this caused, Izzy quickly came up with an adjustment to the plan. "Listen, Davis, I know you are in charge here, but I'm afraid we won't be able to stick fully to your plan. If Lilithmon is telling the truth and that army is heading to attack Earth, we'll need Imperialdramon back there to help control the damage. Unfortunately, we'll need to keep the majority of our forces here since we have to stop the Seven Demon Lords now before they open the Gate. So, follow that army through whatever portal they are using and find a way to work with the other DigiDestined to repel the threat."

Yolei suddenly cut in. "I should probably head back too. Remember back when we first met Michael and he asked me out? Well, I got some contact info from him back then, and I haven't gotten around to deleting it. I might be able to get in touch with him. He said he was trying to communicate with all of the international DigiDestined and get them prepared for an attack when this mess started, so hopefully he worked together some form of communication network that we could use so we only have to send Imperialdramon wherever he's needed. Besides, Aquilamon may be great, but he's still just a Champion level. He would be of much more use on Earth than he would be here."

Cody also nodded. "I'll go too. I've become friends with many of the people who got implanted with the Dark Spores the last time a Demon Lord fought us, so I'll be able to at least get in touch with them and set up a defense force for Japan. That should free up Imperialdramon to only deal with threats beyond the Champion level. Since nobody on Earth can go beyond that, it'll be up to him to stop any Ultimates and Megas that show up anywhere on Earth."

Hearing this, Davis nodded. "Fine, looks like it's up to you six to take care of this mess. Do me a favor, will you? Free Matt and Tai from their brainwashing, and then reenact your first adventure and save the world as the eight of you. We'll hold down the fort on Earth. Now, who's ready for the World Tour Version Two?"

Ken couldn't help but smile at his friend's enthusiasm, despite the situation. Agreeing to the plan, Aquilamon and Ankylomon both reverted to their Rookie forms before they boarded a recently Mode Changed Imperialdramon Dragon Mode along with Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Cody. Imperialdramon then rocketed into the sky to chase after the army heading towards Earth, eventually entering a well-disguised portal and flickering out of the Dark Ocean, leaving the first group of DigiDestined as the only humans in the Dark Ocean. However, there wasn't any time for sentimentality, as Daemon and a Lilithmon were suddenly blasted into the ground on either side of the remaining group. Upon hearing a voice addressing them from the now-smoldering crater they had flown from, it became obvious that the injured Lilithmon was actually Kari's partner.

"As one Demon Lord to another, let me give you some advice. It is very impressive that your partners managed to unlock your current forms without going completely insane. However, even though you two are Demon Lords, I am one of the Seven GREAT Demon Lords. Your power is insignificant compared to mine. You are channeling the Wrath and Lust of your partners. I have the Code Key of Lust providing me with a constant flow of dark energy. Add this to the fact that the Child of Light is so despicably innocent, and your Lilithmon is not even a tenth as strong as I am. At least the Child of Hope has somewhat decent anger to work with, but your Daemon is around 15% of my power. You can't hope to beat me with only those two."

Glancing to the rest of the DigiDestined, she noticed Imperialdramon's absence and couldn't help but add in a chuckle. "So, the new kids all took the bait and headed back to Earth, did they? Not that it really matters. That trap really was too brilliant to fail. Either you ignore it and focus on attacking us, or you split your group to cover both threats. One option results in you weakening yourself with doubt over whether you can really stand abandoning your planet to be ransacked by our forces, while the other results in you weakening yourself by cutting out your advantage in numbers. Either way, it helps our cause. Still, with you six left, you might just have enough power to defeat me. I might just have to call in some help. After all, we're only missing two members from your original group, aren't we? It'd be a shame for them to miss the reunion."

Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, and Tai and Matt appeared from a dark portal next to her. However, it wasn't the sudden appearance of their friends that startled the DigiDestined the most, but rather how they appeared. Instead of standing on the ground, they were standing twenty feet in the air on the shoulders of a knight like Digimon. Though this Digimon was completely black, the distinctive WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon heads that formed its arms left no doubt in anyone's minds who this creature was. This was the Digimon that had singlehandedly wiped out an army of Diaboromon after only one of the viral Digimon had thrashed WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon in a combined effort. Now, he was an enemy, and Izzy suddenly wished he wasn't as intelligent as he was. Everybody else could hope against the odds to somehow win this battle. However, Izzy couldn't help but calculate the odds in his head, and the numbers kept pointing the same direction: the combined forces of Omnimon and Lilithmon wiping out their entire team.

Author's Note: Well, we're rushing towards the finale of this second arc. We've got plenty of Megas on our side now, but that doesn't seem to be helping. Power wise, I've always viewed fused Mega forms, like Omnimon, to be roughly equivalent to three Megas. With the Code Keys, the Seven Great Demon Lords are approximately on Omnimon's level. That might make the fight seem even, but with TK and Kari being new to the Mega level, Puppetmon being a fairly weak Mega in terms of combat ability, and Ornismon still not being able to control herself, let's just say Izzy's doubts are highly justified. Unfortunately for you, I'm going to be taking a break from updating for the football games, so I might not update the end of this fight until late tonight. Until then, feel free to review!


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

While everybody else was shocked at this Omnimon's appearance, TK and Kari paid no attention to their brothers and immediately ordered their partners to attack Lilithmon again. At first, Sora couldn't understand why these two were continuing to attack on their own after Lilithmon clearly showed they weren't enough before Lilithmon's description suddenly clicked. She had claimed that Patamon and Gatomon's Mega forms were supported by the Wrath and Lust of their partners. Since TK's anger would be directed entirely at Lilithmon, his Daemon would continue to attack that one target regardless of the rational choice. Likewise, what little lust Kari felt would be directed towards TK judging by their conversation this morning, so Kari would continue to do whatever she could for him. In order for their partners to hold their Mega forms, TK and Kari must have lost their rational thinking to their respective sins. If they hoped to win, they would need help from the other Digimon.

Unfortunately for Sora, Omnimon wasn't about to give any of them the chance to peel away from the fight. Shouting out "Double Torrent!" he unleashed a stream of fire from his WarGreymon arm and a stream of ice from his MetalGarurumon arm. The two elemental attacks streamed straight toward Puppetmon and HerculesKabuterimon, but Plesiomon jumped in front of them and unleashed his Shaking Pulse, canceling out the attack. As the other Digimon spread out, Plesiomon began outlining his plan for the upcoming battle. "Don't worry guys, I know he's strong, but as long as you keep your ears covered, I'll be able to cancel out any of his atARRGH!"

Plesiomon's last sentence was cut off as he suddenly reverted to Bukamon, revealing Omnimon standing with his blade drawn where the sea monster had been moments before. Addressing the gathered DigiDestined, he finally spoke. "I'm sorry; I suppose that was rude of me. I didn't even bother calling out the name of my attack. If you are curious, that was my Grey Sword. It's a simple attack that can't be canceled out by sonic waves. That is why your friend—Garuru Cannon!"

Extending a cannon from his MetalGarurumon arm, Omnimon spun around and blasted HerculesKabuterimon in the face as the insect had been about to strike him with a Giga Scissor Claw attack. HerculesKabuterimon quickly reverted to Motimon, allowing him to avoid any further harm as he shrunk to the point that his head was no longer contained within the blast, which continued out into the ocean and froze a path out to the horizon.

In an affronted tone, Omnimon continued to address the DigiDestined. "Didn't I just say how rude it was to attack without calling it out first? On top of that, your friend even tried attacking me while my back was turned and I was trying to talk. He is lucky my sense of honor is greater than yours, or else I would be forced to kill him right now. Fortunately for him, he no longer poses a threat, and I refuse to engage in meaningless destruction. Now, are the rest of you ready to fight, or are you going to peacefully surrender? The choice is yours."

As Omnimon issued this declaration, he actually retracted his sword and cannon, and merely stood waiting to hear how the DigiDestined would respond. Seeing this, Mimi couldn't help but ask Izzy a question. "Izzy? Is it a good thing or a bad thing that Omnimon is being so polite to us? Usually, Lilithmon or Wisemon kept Agumon and Gabumon mindless or angry at us, but now they are actually offering us the option to surrender? What does this mean?"

"Mimi, I have no idea how to answer that. The way I see it, there are two possible explanations for this. One, Omnimon is more powerful than Lilithmon can fully control, allowing some of his personality as a good guy to slip through despite his actions, which would be mostly a good sign. Two, Lilithmon isn't controlling Omnimon at all, so we get to see his personality in full. This would be a bad sign, since it means Omnimon is attacking us despite having complete control of himself. Either way, we need to find some way to beat him. We can't afford to surrender now. Luckily, he doesn't seem like the type to attack a defenseless target, so we shouldn't have to worry about anybody being outright destroyed by him."

Hearing this, Garudamon and Puppetmon finally shouted a reply to Omnimon. "We can't afford to surrender to you! If the Demon Lords aren't stopped, it could be the end for the Digital World and Earth. Don't you care about any of that? You're our friend, Omnimon, but if you stand in our way we will have to stop you, no matter how powerful you are!" After this, they both called out the names of their attacks, with Garudamon firing a Wing Blade and Puppetmon using the bullet version of her Puppet Pummel. As the two attacks sped towards Omnimon, he held out his two arms and released his Double Torrent attack again. The stream of ice met Garudamon's attack head on in a cloud of steam, while the stream of fire met Puppetmon's blasts in an explosion. While the DigiDestined were hopeful that something had happened, the smoke and steam cleared to reveal Omnimon in his exact same position without so much as a rip in his cape.

"It is true that my master's plans would bring suffering to the residents of the Digital World and Earth. As much as that pains me, however, I cannot disobey my master. She has ordered me to stop you, my friends, and I must obey. I hope you will reconsider your option to surrender and run as far away as you can before she orders me to destroy you. I have fought you enough as it is and I would hate for anybody else to be seriously hurt because they refused to surrender."

"Well," Garudamon countered, "I'm afraid you'll either have to keep fighting us or surrender yourself. We can't give up now!" Lowering her voice, she started addressing Puppetmon. "Listen, I hope you're ready to give controlling me another shot. We're going to need Ornismon for this one. Hop on!" As soon as Puppetmon had hopped on to her shoulders, Garudamon called out to Sora that she needed to Digivolve. Sora was confused for a second, but upon seeing Puppetmon, she suddenly understood. Concentrating, Sora managed to turn her Crest black, and Garudamon began glowing purple and growing as he Dark Digivolved. As soon as Ornismon appeared, Puppetmon attached a bunch of strings to her wings and forced her to directly face Omnimon. The Puppet Digimon addressed the Royal Knight. "Now, I know you hate it when people don't call out their attacks, but we haven't quite mastered this particular trick yet, so it'll be a bit sloppy." Sure enough, as Puppetmon had been talking, Ornismon had been preparing a Cosmic Ray, and silently fired it as soon as Puppetmon had spoken the final word. The blast raced toward Omnimon and exploded, immediately causing Sora to worry. Sure, it would be great if they had finally managed to hit Omnimon with an attack, but she didn't want to think about the effects of an attack like that on Matt and Tai, who had been sitting on Omnimon's shoulders upon impact. As such, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw Omnimon had taken cover behind something similar to WarGreymon's Brave Shield, with the only difference being this shield's larger size and decoration featuring half of the Crest of Courage and half of the Crest of Friendship instead of a full Crest of Courage.

Omnimon lowered the shield and began addressing Puppetmon. "I must congratulate you on launching that attack. Combining your control with your friend's destructive power forced me to rely on my Brave Shield Omega to avoid damage. However, I must ask for a brief pause in our fight. Such attacks could seriously harm Tai and Matt, so I wish to drop them off before we resume, if such an act is possible."

Puppetmon was about to agree to Omnimon's request- sure, she usually didn't like letting her opponent do anything, but this time it would get Tai and Matt out of the way so they wouldn't have to worry about hurting them. However, before she could speak, she was distracted as two dark figures suddenly shot passed her and crashed into the ground right next to the DigiDestined. As the dust cleared, the figures were revealed to be Daemon and Lilithmon, and considering the circumstances she was fairly certain she knew which Lilithmon that was. Sure enough, a second Lilithmon suddenly flew up next to Omnimon and began ordering the Royal Knight around.

"You've only managed to take out four of them? Would you quit playing around? Lucemon is getting impatient, and I need to end this battle before the ritual begins. I can't just lead any DigiDestined to our base, now can I? Now, defeat them before I'm forced to order you to kill them!"

Hearing this, Sora and Mimi turned to TK and Kari as the only ones left who could help. "Listen, TK," Sora started, "I know you are absolutely furious at Lilithmon right now, and you have every right to be. However, if you don't help Puppetmon and Ornismon with Omnimon, more people will get hurt." When TK didn't respond to this, Sora decided she had to pull out some heavier ammunition. "Unless you want Kari to be hurt by Omnimon, that is." This last line caused TK to go even more berserk, causing Daemon to release a bigger surge of dark energy as he struggled to stand up. Unfortunately, the next words out of TK's mouth were "Daemon, get up and attack that Lilithmon," so Sora realized that even bringing Kari into the discussion hadn't gotten through to him.

Mimi heard Sora's approach fail, so she decided to try something else to get TK to turn around. "Hey, Kari. In case you haven't noticed, TK isn't really acting like himself right now. If you managed to return him to normal, I'm sure he'd be so grateful to you he'd take you out on a date. So, how about you talk to him and get him to help out, and then I'll help make sure he ends up your boyfriend?" Mimi was certain she had hit on the right tactic here- if Kari was consumed with lust, she would jump at any chance to get a date with TK. Since Kari had been the only one to snap TK out of his NeoDevimon issues, Mimi was sure she would be able to snap him out of his Daemon issues, so Kari's lust would be the key to redirecting TK's wrath.

Unfortunately, there were two major flaws in Mimi's plan. The first presented itself in the form of Omnimon, who heeded Lilithmon's orders faster than Kari could react to Mimi's words. He had quickly flown right up to Puppetmon and slashed her with his Grey Sword, causing her to revert to Tanemon. While this move freed Ornismon, the large bird was unable to so much as flap her wings before Omnimon unleashed his Garuru Cannon at point blank range into her back. Omnimon must have held back most of his power in order to avoid injuring himself, Matt, or Tai because this blast was much smaller, but it still was strong enough to send Yokomon plummeting to the ground. The second problem presented itself in the form of Kari, who didn't seem to care about the injury to the last two Digimon she had been told to reinforce. "Oh, I think I'll have to pass on that offer, Mimi. You see, I don't need any help setting up a date with him. As for talking to him, well, let's just say I can think of something much more fun we could do with our mouths." Finishing this sentence, Kari immediately grabbed TK, spun him around so he was facing her, and pulled him into a deep kiss.

Mimi's thoughts suddenly split into three different directions. The first direction was excitedly congratulating the two on finally getting together and commenting on how cute the two looked. The second was the much more realistic disappointment that Kari hadn't followed through on Mimi's supposedly foolproof plan. The third was the crushing defeat that such an action entailed. First, TK and Kari both weren't in their right minds at the moment, so this kiss was basically the same as kissing somebody who was drunk or on drugs and wasn't aware of what they were doing. Second, TK and Kari were carrying the future of two worlds at the moment, and they were too busy being distracted by hormones and anger to even care. Right now, TK and Kari were literally kissing the world goodbye.

Before Mimi's thoughts could get any more depressing, she was suddenly blinded by a dazzling light. Squinting her eyes, she noticed TK and Kari were unleashing a pure white light that was the brightest thing Mimi had ever seen. Suddenly, the crater Daemon had been stuck in disappeared in a brilliant yellow glow, while a similar pink glow encased the crater that held Kari's Lilithmon. Mimi couldn't help but start laughing. Apparently, that kiss wasn't quite as meaningless as she thought, and maybe the world wasn't really doomed.

"Lilithmon, Slide Evolution! Ophanimon!"

"Daemon, Slide Evolution! Seraphimon!"

* * *

As Cody stared out over the harbor, he couldn't help but feel that returning to Earth had been a bad idea. Sure, seeing an army head out to attack Earth while in the Dark Ocean had seemed like a complete emergency, but everything that had happened since boarding Imperialdramon made Cody wish he had stayed behind. First, the ride itself had been highly awkward, as Ken had opened a can of worms by casually asking Yolei if she kept the contact information of all of her ex-boyfriends. Luckily, the argument didn't last long, as Yolei insisted it was no big deal, she had only gone on one date with Michael and then called it off, and she had only kept his info because he was another DigiDestined and they might have need to contact international DigiDestined in the future. Hearing this, Ken had quickly apologized for getting jealous and not trusting her, but Cody still hadn't liked being forced to listen to their private matters. Second, upon arrival to Earth, they had contacted Michael to warn him about the situation, only to basically be told it was mostly under control. While they had been focusing on matters in the Digital World, he had apparently been flying around the real world to inform the international DigiDestined. He had even connected up with Willis, who had somehow programmed a way for all of the international DigiDestined to communicate in real time. While it sounded like a normal chat room, he had made it so it could recognize each post as a request for help or just a status update, allowing people to stay in contact and reinforce each other without requests being lost to the clutter. It even had the ability to accurately translate all requests into any language the user chose, breaking down the communication barrier some teams had faced on the last world tour.

In addition to the international DigiDestined not needing the warning about the problem, it also turned out they didn't really need the help of four more people. At first, they had thought Imperialdramon would be an absolute necessity to take out any Ultimate levels around the world, but two things prevented that from being the case. First, Willis had somehow managed to recreate the Digimental of Destiny, and by having Terriermon Golden Armor Digivolve to Rapidmon, he was capable of dealing with the higher threats on his own. Second, there was the fact that there just weren't many Ultimate level Digimon attacking- Willis had taken out a MetalTyrannomon and a Cherrymon before they arrived, and since then had engaged with a Megadramon. This left the only other known Ultimate to be an Okuwamon that had been spotted in India, which Davis and Ken had flown off to intercept. If the international DigiDestined had only spotted four Ultimate levels despite their global network, this army didn't seem to be as big of a threat as initially believed. As if to prove this, when Yolei and Cody joined the battle in Japan, they didn't come across any huge threats either. So far, they had each fought two Champions, but the majority of enemies attacking were limited to Rookie or In-Training levels. Sure, the Snimon and Devidramon Yolei had faced were strong, and Submarimon had difficulty fighting the Raremon and Gesomon that had taken up residence in the bay, but it was hard to view yourself as saving the world when all you were really doing is cleaning up Gizamon, DemiDevimon, and Pagumon.

Suddenly, Cody heard a little girl's scream, and immediately snapped out of his musings. Sure, In-Training Digimon were no threat to anybody with a Digimon partner, but there were still plenty of people who had no idea what these things were, and they still could do some damage. Cody grabbed Armadillomon and started running in the direction of the noise, thankful he had hit a growth spurt and finally had longer legs. After all, he was the only DigiDestined who didn't have a partner suited for quick travel. Submarimon was fine as long as he needed to travel through the water, but Digmon and Ankylomon both were more suited to fighting than running. Finally, Cody arrived to where he thought he had heard the scream, but was absolutely shocked at what he saw.

Sitting on the curb was a girl who looked to be no older than five, who was crying but otherwise looked unharmed. Standing in the middle of the road, however, were two swarms of Pagumon all busily attacking something Cody couldn't see. Thinking those two things might have been the parents of the crying girl, Cody pulled out his D3, but before he could do anything the Pagumon were starting to get knocked outward from their swarms and running away. Eventually, all the Pagumon fled, revealing two dark haired boys who had apparently fought them off using nothing but a Bo staff and a pair of kendo sticks. When the two boys turned to face Cody, he suddenly gasped in recognition.

"Koji? Koichi? What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, hey Cody," the one with the Bo staff replied. "Well, Koji and I took the day off to help Mom move into her new apartment. By the time we finished, we couldn't help but notice there was a bit of a Digimon invasion going on, so we figured we had to help out somehow. Then we heard this little girl scream and just had to help her."

"Wait, Koichi, how do you know about Digimon? And if you know about them, why would you jump in and fight them? They can be really dangerous!"

"It's simple," Koji replied as he strapped his two kendo sticks to his back. "We know about them because we both went to the Digital World six years ago. As for the danger, we know what we are doing. These were just Pagumon. I fought twenty of those off with a pole when I was eleven. I knew I could handle them after six years of kendo practice. Of course, if they started to Digivolve, we would have grabbed the girl and gotten out of here. I may be good, but I'm not as effective as Lobomon in a fight. Still, the real question is, what are you doing here? You obviously know about the Digimon and how dangerous they can be, yet you're wandering the streets without anything to defend yourself."

"You don't have to worry about me, I have a partner Digimon. Armadillomon, you can stop hiding now. These two are Koji Minamoto and Koichi Kimura. They work at the community center Grandpa and I volunteer at. Koji, Koichi, I'd like you to meet my partner Armadillomon."

As Cody said this, Armadillomon came out from behind Cody, where he had been trying to hide as a force of habit whenever he encountered humans who weren't DigiDestined or their families. After the introduction, Koichi went off to talk to the little girl and tell her to go back inside her house and not offer chocolate to strange animals while Koji and Cody both began questioning each other on their past experiences, with Cody wondering how Koji had gotten to the Digital World in the first place and Koji wondering what it meant to have a partner Digimon. However, before they could get very far into their explanations, Koji's cell phone rang.

"Oh hey, Takuya. How are you enjoying this nice little trip down memory lane? … Yeah, Koichi's fine, he's standing here with me. Why do you ask?... What? Listen, get everybody out of there now. I don't care how you have to do it. We'll be right down to help you. I even found a friend who can help out. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Hanging up, Koji suddenly yelled to his brother. "Koichi, do you think Mother would let you borrow her car? We need to get to the Odaiba Convention Center as soon as possible. It's Duskmon."

Hearing this, a dark expression crossed Koichi's face. "Well, we don't really have a choice here. Let's go." As he and Koji started running back to their mother's new apartment, Cody struggled to keep up. "Wait, who's Duskmon, and why is it such a big deal to Koichi?" Koji didn't bother to face Cody as he answered. "Listen, if you want an explanation, it will have to wait until we get in the car. We don't have time to waste." Hearing this, Cody decided not to press the issue and focused on keeping up with the two older boys. When they arrived at what must have been their mother's apartment, Koji ran to the parking garage while Koichi ran into the building itself. Unsure of what to do, Cody followed Koji and found him leaning against the door of a car, his kendo sticks held in a ready position as he began mumbling to himself. Recognizing the pose from his various times sparring with Koji, Cody knew not to disrupt his focus as he gathered himself. Within a minute, Koichi had come to the car with a set of keys, and he and Koji silently got into the car while Cody and Armadillomon were stuck in the back seat. As soon as they got on the road, Cody finally had to ask what was going on.

Not taking his eyes off the road, Koichi answered in an angry tone. "Duskmon is the worst thing that ever happened to me. If you want the full story, you'll need Koji to take over for most of it, but it started six years ago when my grandmother was dying in the hospital…"

* * *

Cody, Koichi, and Koji arrived at the convention center just as large crowds of people were struggling to get out. Pushing their way against the stampede, they managed to make it inside, where a tall blond girl suddenly greeted them. "Thank goodness you're here, Koji and Koichi! The rest of us were all here trying to get everybody evacuated, but nobody listened until Duskmon started smashing the place up and people realized he wasn't just somebody in costume for a convention or something. JP and Tommy are helping out at other exits, but Takuya's using himself as a distraction for Duskmon. He'll need your help as soon as possible. Also, who's he?"

"We'll introduce you later, Zoe. What's important is he has a partner Digimon who can help. Do you have any idea where Takuya—" Koji's question was interrupted as the sound of breaking glass came from the direction of the food court. Taking this as their cue, Cody, Koji, and Koichi all ran in that direction. As they were running, Koichi began telling them a plan for the situation. "Okay, since you're the only Digimon we have, Armadillomon, you'll be in charge of fighting Duskmon. Just be really careful, though. He my look intimidating, but he's a lot stronger than he looks anyway. Just try to hold him off while Koji and I work on getting Takuya out of there."

"You keep talking about how strong Duskmon is," Cody interrupted, "and since you used to be him when you first became a Legendary Warrior you should now, but what level is he? If he's a Champion, Armadillomon might be able to take him and I wouldn't call anybody else away from their fights, but if he's an Ultimate or Mega, I'd call for backup."

Koichi immediately responded "Call for backup," but Koji decided to explain. "Well, I'm not sure how you would equate his level. All we have as a frame of reference is that he is a Human Spirit. To put that into context, some Human Spirits could go toe to toe with Ultimates, while others struggled with Champions. There is a level beyond Human Spirit known as Beast Spirit, which is even stronger. This guy took on four Beast Spirits and utterly demolished us without even noticing our attacks. If I had to guess, I'd say he's on par with the strongest Ultimates or maybe even a Mega."

Hearing this, Cody and Armadillomon gulped. "Okay, I'm calling in backup now. Unfortunately, the only ones on Earth who can deal with an opponent that strong are a few countries away, so they won't be here for a while." He pulled out his D-Terminal and sent a quick message to Davis and Ken, then after a bit of thought sent one to Yolei as well. While Aquilamon on his own wouldn't be much help if Duskmon was really as powerful as Koji and Koichi said, it didn't change the fact that combining Aquilamon and Ankylomon had resulted in taking down Kimeramon during the Trials of Olympus. They might be able to do something similar here if the fight ever got dragged outside.

Cody's planning was interrupted as they finally arrived at the food court, to see that the entire area had been demolished. Standing in the center of the chaos was what looked to be a man wearing armor composed of black skeletal fragments, but the seven additional eyes on his armor and red swords extending from the ends of the draconic skulls on his arms gave him away as a Digimon. Duskmon was standing over another boy lying on the ground, preparing to strike. Seeing this, Armadillomon quickly Digivolved and Ankylomon used his Rhythmical Knock attack to create a rock wall separating the two. As Koji and Koichi ran to get the boy, who must have been the Takuya they had been talking about, out of the way, Ankylomon charged in against Duskmon with his Armor Stampede attack, just expecting to ram him out of the way.

However, Duskmon didn't acknowledge the stampeding dinosaur, and turned all of his eyes toward the earthen wall separating him from his first target. He called out "Deadly Gaze!" and all the eyes sent out red lasers that pierced through the earth wall and missed Takuya by inches.

Before Duskmon had a chance to adjust his aim, Ankylomon finally managed to hit him. The giant dinosaur sent the demonic knight skidding backwards, but he didn't so much as fall over, let alone express any pain from the attack. All the attack resulted in was buying Koji enough time to help Takuya off the ground and finally getting Duskmon to turn his attention to Ankylomon instead of the humans. Staring down his new opponent, he shouted "Lunar Plasma!" and traced a glowing circle with his two swords that took the form of a red moon. Before Ankylomon could react to this, the moon suddenly shattered, and Duskmon flew straight at Ankylomon and viciously slashed his opponent. In addition to the slash, a giant dome of red energy filled the area, and when the glow faded, Cody was shocked to see Upamon lying unconscious at Duskmon's feet. However, despite Duskmon's apparent victory, something was clearly wrong with him, as all the joints in his armor were continuing to leak red light, as if he could no longer contain his energy. Apparently oblivious to this fact, Duskmon readied his sword to finish off Upamon, only for Koichi to come in and whack him with his staff. While it had no effect, it served to at very least distract Duskmon from his previous target and turn his attention to Koichi. Koji screamed for his brother to get out of there, but Koichi stood his ground and began taunting his opponent.

"I don't know who you are underneath your spirit form, but it's obvious you can't hold yourself together very long. That spirit you are using belongs to me as the Legendary Warrior of Darkness. The fact that you even took the form of Duskmon shows you can't control the Darkness. I've seen exactly what happens to the foolish souls who tried to do exactly what you are doing. You can't control that spirit, but I can. You have something that belongs to me, and I'm taking it back!"

With this, Koichi began a furious series of blows, but it proved to be futile: instead of doing any form of blocking or dodging, Duskmon let the blows glance off of his armor. However, the moment's distraction brought about by the blows and the lecture proved to be enough, as Duskmon had run out of time: unable to contain his own energy, he just fell apart on his own. A massive red ball of energy suddenly flew out of his body, blowing a hole in the roof as it exited. The empty remains of Duskmon's armor remained and clanked down to the ground as Koichi and Koji could only stare in shock. Finally, Koji approached his brother and, after checking to see if he was okay, began yelling at him for throwing himself in danger like that.

Koichi just stared at the remains of Duskmon's armor, unsure of why exactly he had just thrown himself into the fight. "I can't really explain it. It sort of felt like the Spirit of Darkness was calling to me from within him, but there was something off, like it wasn't fully there. I just had to try to get my spirit back, since something felt so wrong about it, but now that he's gone I'm not so sure that actually was the Spirit of Darkness at all. When did a Spirit ever just fall apart like that? Sure, we saw the twisted shadows in Cherubimon's castle that were a result of all the hosts who couldn't properly bond with the Spirit, but even with the hosts destroyed the Spirit stayed whole."

Koji merely nodded. "Strange as it sounds, I actually get what you are saying. You weren't there when I first got my Spirits, but I felt them calling to me as well before I actually used them. You must have experienced something similar right now. However, the fact that Duskmon just fell apart like that makes it seem like he didn't have the full Spirit of Darkness. Maybe somebody tried making a copy of the Spirit and it didn't work too well? Anyway, even if it had been the real spirit, how exactly were you planning on taking it back? In case you forgot, all of our D-Tectors turned back to cell phones after we came back. We don't exactly have a way to scan the Spirits right now."

Koichi suddenly looked a bit sheepish. "Guess I never really thought about it. Still, I'm glad that's over. Duskmon is pretty much the worst thing that could happen to someone. You lose control of yourself to the darkness and can't stop yourself from hurting everything around you. If that really was a copy, I'm glad no person or Digimon had to suffer through that." However, after a quick glance around the food court, he realized he needed to amend his statement. "Well, I guess some people still will have to suffer through the costs of repairing this place. Now, how exactly are we going to explain this mess to the police?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Cody answered. "Odaiba has a bit of history with Digimon attacks. Usually, they just get passed off as the work of a terrorist bombing, which considering Duskmon's appearance most people will probably believe. The giant monster sightings get passed off as a result of shock since some people are unable to see Digimon even if they are right in front of them. People usually just convince themselves they imagined or dreamed about the monsters they saw and move on. Also, any records get deleted by the Guardians of the Digital World in an effort to prevent ordinary humans from finding out about the Digital World and exploiting it, so it's impossible to prove a Digimon was here at all. It sounds far-fetched, but it's happened twice before, so we shouldn't worry too much about having to explain it."

"Wow," Koji responded, "that's actually really convenient. Sure, it would be great if the two worlds could exist in harmony, but judging from my experience the only Digimon who want to come to Earth are the ones who want to attack it, and considering humans have a hard enough time staying out of war with ourselves, I'm not sure it could ever work out. It's probably—"

However, Koji's pessimistic rant was cut short by a horrible screeching sound from overhead. The red energy that had flown out of Duskmon had gathered itself in the opening of the ceiling and began to take a new form. Finally, the energy coalesced into the form of a giant bird with a red skeletal body and black wings. This caused Koji, Koichi, and the newly-recovered Takuya to all gasp in shock. Hearing this, Cody found himself equally wishing he knew what he was facing and praying for Davis and Ken to hurry.

"Please tell me that guy isn't as dangerous as he looks."

"No such luck," Koichi responded. "That's Velgemon, Duskmon's Beast Spirit. Basically, take Duskmon, double his power, and give him much more devastating attacks. We need to get out of here, now."

Before anybody could follow his advice, Velgemon suddenly swooped down towards them, forcing them to jump to the side to avoid being skewered by his dangerous beak. However, though the humans had avoided his first attack, Velgemon persisted and continued swooping towards the smaller targets. While they continued to dive out of the way at the last second, the constant need to dodge his attacks prevented them from making any form of dash to the exit. Seeing they would need to cause some form of distraction to escape, Koichi began searching for anything he could use to help, when the remains of Duskmon's armor caught his eye. Carefully executing his next dodge, he managed to pick up the remains of what had once been Duskmon's arms, but now were nothing more than swords extending from their skull housings. As Velgemon flew around for another try, Koichi prepared himself.

"Alright, Koichi. This will be just like old times. Sure, you haven't used them in six years, the swords are heavier than you remember, and much harder to wield now that they aren't your arms, but you got this covered. All you have to do is slash him across the eyes and blind him before he gores you with his beak. Shouldn't be too hard. Just be glad he's only playing around right now, because that won't last as soon as you make him angry. Alright, now!"

Koichi jumped up, intending to land on top of Velgemon's beak where he would have access to both eyes. However, as he jumped, Velgemon turned his head slightly, causing Koichi to land more to the side of the beak, where he didn't have a level surface. As he slipped off, he managed to slash at one of Velgemon's eyes, but the maneuver cost him as he hit the ground awkwardly and felt his ankle collapse under him. Velgemon screamed in pain at his newest injury, and in retaliation began flying in around the DigiDestined with his wingtip touching the ground, tracing out a glowing red circle. Cody felt lost, but Koji immediately recognized the attack. "We need to get out of this circle now!"

Knowing Takuya wouldn't be able to run on his own, Koji lifted him in a fireman's carry and began running. Cody quickly followed, but managed to ask why it was so urgent. "That attack deleted everything within the circle in the Digital World. I don't want to see what it does on Earth!" Koji kept running, but skidded to a halt when he saw his brother lying on the ground. "Koichi, we have to go!"

Koichi winced as he touched his ankle. "Save yourself, Koji. My ankle is shot. I won't be able to make it out of here on time, and I'm probably too big for Cody to carry and still make it out. Tell mom I'm sorry I couldn't make it."

Hearing this, Takuya suddenly spoke up. "Don't be stupid. You've only had six years to know each other, so you can't just give up and die now! We went through way too much work to get your family together, so we're not going to split it up now. Koji, put me down and take Koichi out of here."

"How about neither of you stays behind," Cody interjected. "I'm stronger than I look. I'll take Koichi. Now can we please get out of here?" As Cody picked up Koichi, Velgemon finished tracing the circle. Suddenly, crimson walls began rising from each side, threatening to trap the humans. They ran along the rapidly closing aisle, when Koji and Cody suddenly tripped over some pieces of debris left from the initial attack. Seeing the dome was nearly closed, Cody suddenly found himself regretting that he had never gotten around to fulfilling his promise to show his mother and grandfather the Digital World.

Suddenly, all the humans were knocked flying off of the ground. The crimson dome sealed itself to Velgemon's cry of "Dark Obliteration!", and the dome glowed brightly before disappearing, leaving nothing but a crater remaining where it had once stood.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, quite a few interesting things happened in this chapter. TK and Kari managed to slide evolve to their normal Mega forms despite being in the middle of the Dark Ocean, and we get to see the state of things in the real world as well as catching up with the Legendary Warriors 6 years after their adventure. They may not have the spirits anymore, but they still have the memories and some skills that carried over. Please review/message any comments!


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Digimon isn't owned by me.

* * *

TK suddenly felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Ever since he had started opening the gate to the Dark Ocean, all he could remember was a consuming anger that prevented him from thinking about anything. Now, he felt his anger disappear, and it was a huge relief. He almost felt like he had been languishing in a dark tunnel for hours, and now he finally was free to enjoy the light.

Likewise, Kari also had the great relief of returning to her senses. She remembered starting to open the portal, but after that she had lost herself to a series of disturbing thoughts. She had almost despaired at ever being herself again, but now she was back and she was filled with the hope of never feeling that way again.

As the two of them just enjoyed the feeling of rightness that came to them, they suddenly became aware of another strange feeling, a sort of pressure on their lips. Wondering what this could be, they slowly opened their eyes, only to stare into another very familiar pair of eyes. It took around three seconds for both of them to realize exactly what this meant. They broke apart, blushing profusely. Sure, they had recently agreed to set up a date, but that didn't change the fact that they had just shared their first kiss and weren't even aware of how it had started. Looking around, they quickly turned an even deeper shade of red upon realizing exactly where they were. The overall dullness of the world showed them to still be in the Dark Ocean. While this wasn't the ideal location for a kiss, what made it worse was the fact that everybody in the area was currently staring wordlessly at them. Sora and Mimi seemed to be happy about something, Joe and Izzy just looked plain shocked, but even the brainwashed Tai and Matt were showing their first hints of actually having a personality. Matt seemed to be struggling to avoid a genuine smile, while Tai looked like he wanted to pull his hair out. Even Lilithmon and what must have been the Virus version of Omnimon were looking at them in awe.

Suddenly, they heard a caring feminine voice emanating from right above them. "I'm sorry to interrupt you two after such a touching moment, but I'm afraid you don't exactly have the time to be embarrassed right now." The speaker flew down and landed next to Kari, where she was revealed to be an angel Digimon with ten golden wings. She wore teal armor and carried a shield and a golden lance.

As TK and Kari questioningly looked at the new arrival, they heard a second voice speaking from above them. "Why can't you just let them have their fun? I know TK's wanted something like that to happen for a very long time." The speaker landed next to TK, and the two humans were shocked at his identity. Next to them stood the blue-armored form of Seraphimon, Patamon's Mega form from the fight with Cherubimon. "Besides, it feels great to be a Mega again without the whole Wrath thing going on. Speaking of Mega, why aren't you Magnadramon? That was your Mega form last time."

Hearing this, TK and Kari realized these two angels were actually their partners at the Mega level. However, before they could start to wonder how this had happened, Gatomon's Mega form answered. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Maybe it's because this time I used Kari's Crest instead of the power of the Golden Digimental, or maybe it's just because I shifted into this form from Lilithmon instead of Digivolving to it. However, I don't have the time to wonder about why I'm Ophanimon instead of Magnadramon, since I really don't think Lilithmon and Omnimon will just stand there staring at us for very long."

However, despite Ophanimon's warning, Lilithmon and Omnimon didn't appear to know how to react. Lilithmon was clutching her head as if she suddenly had a massive headache, and Omnimon seemed to be busy staring off into space. Still, not wanting to press their luck, Ophanimon began planning for the upcoming battle. "Listen, I'm sure they'll eventually start fighting, and even with our new forms, we won't be strong enough to beat either of them in a full-out battle. I have a plan that could turn the tide, but I'll need some time to get ready. Do you think you can distract the two of them for a while?"

Seraphimon groaned. "So, your brilliant plan involves me fighting alone against two opponents that could beat the two of us together? I really can't enjoy my Mega form, can I?" He sighed, and then continued in a more resolved tone. "Still, some plan is better than no plan. Getting the stuffing knocked out of you is a tough job, but someone has to do it, and it may as well be me. Here goes. Excalibur!"

Seraphimon suddenly extended a glowing blue sword from his wrist, much like MagnaAngemon could do. He then charged directly towards Omnimon, figuring his corrupted friend's sense of honor would at least cause Omnimon to engage in a straight up sword fight and not use his cannon to attack Ophanimon. Sure enough, Omnimon snapped out of his confusion and extended his Grey Sword to engage the upcoming foe head on. Despite his lack of desire to fight, Lilithmon had still ordered him to do so, and the effects of her Darkness Love were still strong enough to force his obedience. He blocked Seraphimon's rush and began slashing back, resulting in the Angel Digimon being forced to take the defensive.

As Omnimon and Seraphimon continued their sword fight, TK and Kari had a hard time paying attention to anything, as each was thinking entirely about the kiss, and what exactly would happen now that they had kissed. Ophanimon was silently gathering power in the form of a rainbow-shaped aura, so the only form of distraction came when Sora suddenly appeared in front of them, holding Yokomon in one arm while the other held her Crest up to TK and Kari's faces. Smiling, she spoke to her two younger friends. "Well, looks like you two still need a bit of work. With a little practice, maybe you'll get the whole glowing red thing down to the point of my Crest!" This just caused further embarrassment, so Sora decided to be serious instead of joking around. "Hey, don't worry about it. First kisses are always awkward, and you two weren't exactly yourselves when you started, so it's not like we're going to judge you on that. We're all happy for you two, really. Some of us just show that differently than others."

As if to prove her point, she pointed over to where Mimi, Joe, and Izzy were all gathered with their newly-retrieved In-Training Digimon. Mimi was excitedly babbling about something, while Joe was trying to calm her down and Izzy was typing away at his computer. "Obviously, Mimi's ecstatic about the whole thing, but Joe's trying to get her to calm down since we still have a bit of a situation on our hands. Izzy may look like he's lost in his computer, but that's just more of a defense mechanism. I think going off to college caused him to go back to not being comfortable around emotional displays, but he did seem happy for you and I'm sure he's just being like Joe and saving his congratulations for later. Unless you two aren't planning on staying together?"

Sora's speech finally managed to snap TK and Kari out of their embarrassment and after a quick silent conversation both nodded their heads. TK then answered Sora. "Well, we had actually agreed to set up a date right before this trip to the Dark Ocean, so if it's ok with Kari, I'd still like for that to happen. It just feels weird- I had my first kiss, but I don't really remember how it started…" TK trailed off as he didn't know if it was okay to keep talking about the topic, but Sora waved him off. "Don't worry about it. You and Kari were both out of it. When you two went to Mega, your partners turned into Demon Lords, and you sort of got consumed by the sins they represent. Patamon turned into Daemon and TK became overwhelmed by Wrath, while Gatomon turned into a Lilithmon and Kari was consumed by Lust."

Hearing Kari gasp at this, Sora was quick to reassure her friend. "Don't worry about anything, Kari. I say you were consumed by Lust, but that sounds much more severe than it really was. All you did was have your Lilithmon help Daemon with everything and kiss TK. Infect any other seventeen year old girl with Lust and they will do a lot worse. You did a great job. The worst thing that happened was a bit of confusion trying to keep track of which Lilithmon was which. Now, how about we go and join the others? We won't talk about the kiss if you don't want to, but we still need to get you two caught up on the newest developments and see where we go from here in terms of saving the world."

Seraphimon saw TK and Kari heading towards the rest of the DigiDestined and couldn't help but give a small smile. Sure, he was glad TK and Kari had gotten together, as he knew being around Kari made TK happy, but what made him the happiest was that they were willing to let their other friends know about it as well. TK once had to read a story for his Literature class where the two people had to keep their love secret, and it ended with both of them dying after a few days. He really didn't want that to happen to TK and Kari.

Unfortunately for Seraphimon, his little distraction cost him dearly, as Omnimon used it to press his attack. The Angel Digimon barely managed to raise Excalibur in time to avoid the Grey Sword's deadly blade, but Omnimon pressed the advantage. Without time to brace his arm, Seraphimon was left helpless as Omnimon pushed through his block, causing Seraphimon to be sent flying backwards. Realizing he wouldn't stand a chance in a continued sword fight, Seraphimon decided to try a new strategy, retracting his sword and cupping his hands together. Calling out his Seven Heavens attack, he created seven glowing orbs of energy and fired them at Omnimon. The Holy Knight once again conjured his Brave Shield Omega to protect himself, but Seraphimon had been counting on this maneuver. While the shield was nearly impenetrable, it also served to block Omnimon's vision, allowing Seraphimon to fly right up to it and begin charging his fist with the same golden energy. As soon as Omnimon began retracting the shield, Seraphimon unleashed his Hallowed Knuckle attack directly at his foe. The blast crashed directly into Omnimon's abdomen, knocking him backwards. Hoping to exploit this opening, Seraphimon began charging another Seven Heavens, but before he could fire Omnimon managed to raise his MetalGarurumon arm and fire his Garuru Cannon. The freezing blast was weakened somewhat on contact with the super-heated spheres of light, but Seraphimon still found himself blasted into the ground, where he struggled to stand up.

"I am impressed you managed to maintain your Mega form after that last attack," Omnimon addressed his adversary, "but I suggest you go no further. If you stop fighting now, I will not be forced to attack you anymore. I wish it did not come down to this, but I must stop all of you." As he said this, he turned towards Ophanimon. "Luckily, there is only one more I must fight before my task is complete." He began flying towards the last remaining DigiDestined Digimon when he was suddenly hit by a bolt of lightning square in the back, actually burning a hole through his cape.

"Where do you think you're going?" Seraphimon had pulled himself into a kneeling position and was struggling to stand up as he continued to gasp out his words to Omnimon. "As far as I can see, our fight isn't over. After all, I just attacked you in the back without calling out my attack first. If you're curious, that one's called Hallowed Ascension. Normally it calls down an entire lightning storm, but I didn't want to hurt Matt or Tai with a stray shot. Now, what do you say you get down here and we finish—wow, you're actually a lot faster than I thought you were."

While Seraphimon had been struggling to stand and form his words, Omnimon had casually flown down to him. Seeing the deplorable state of his opponent and knowing he at least had the honor to sacrifice himself for his friends, Omnimon decided to forgive him for his sneak attack, and instead of destroying him immediately he retracted his Grey Sword and simply punched Seraphimon with his WarGreymon arm. The Angel Digimon began glowing as he reverted to Tokomon, and Omnimon took a moment to address his fallen foe. "You fight with honor. It is a shame we were forced to be on opposite sides of this battle. Unfortunately, you have lost, so now I must fight the other angel."

Hearing this, Tokomon made a valiant last attempt to attack, but Omnimon merely ignored the In-Training Digimon as Tokomon bounced off his armor. "Must you be so foolish? You can't hope to defeat me as you are now. Let it rest. You have done enough. If your friend is willing to surrender, she need not be hurt. Now—"

"Looking for me?" Omnimon turned to see Ophanimon flying in the air behind him, surrounded by a rainbow colored aura. Before he could react, she called out "Eden's Javelin!" and blasted Omnimon with a rainbow colored beam that completely engulfed him along with Tai and Matt. The beam didn't appear to have any effect other than preventing Omnimon from moving, yet Ophanimon persisted. However, Lilithmon saw this action and finally seemed to snap out of her inner turmoil. She flew next to Ophanimon, and the Angel Digimon realized she had lost. She had already committed too much energy to her attack, and would not be able to call it off in time to defend herself. However, just when she had resigned herself to her fate, she heard Lilithmon sigh and, instead of attacking, merely start talking.

"You know, destiny sure has a way of smacking you over the head and realizing your mistakes. I'm not sure if you know this, but I used to be an Ophanimon as well. I was one of three Digimon chosen to rule the world, and things were working out great until I tried to solve what I saw as a problem with another member of the three Celestial Digimon. I teamed up with a Seraphimon to try to solve the problem on our own, but that just caused Cherubimon to become corrupted by darkness. Had I just talked to him first, Seraphimon wouldn't have been struck down, and I wouldn't have been captured as the world started to fall apart. Eventually, I was forced to call for help from the human world, but instead of trusting these humans to save the world, I once again believed only Seraphimon and I could do it. I sent these humans, who I knew were destined to be the Legendary Warriors, on a simple quest to revive him and free me without trusting them to do the right thing on their own. My foolishness once again resulted in Seraphimon being struck down, and the children still dutifully tried to free me, risking their very lives in the process."

"Despite the grave odds, the children actually managed to turn Cherubimon's strongest warrior, the Legendary Warrior of Darkness, to their side, storm Cherubimon's castle, and begin freeing me from my imprisonment, even though it required two of them to face Cherubimon himself with no chance of winning. When they finally freed me, I once again decided that I was the only one who could save Cherubimon, and tried using the same attack you are using now on him to save him from the darkness corrupting him. Of course, the darkness was too powerful for me, and he ended up going mad at my betrayal when I returned the power he had stolen from the children and destroyed me."

"Why am I telling you this? Just to point out how foolish I could be. By believing I could do no wrong, I caused one friend to descend into madness twice, one friend to be brutally defeated twice, and myself to be placed in a state of helplessness. All because I refused to trust others to solve the problem if I just plainly asked, like the children who went on to restore the world after my death. So, you would think after my rebirth when I was once again faced with the option of taking on the forces of darkness, I would have learned my lesson, but I was once again blinded by arrogance. Instead of letting the darkness exist peacefully in another realm, I tried to destroy it together with Seraphimon, believing myself clever for creating a seal in case of our failure. Predictably, we failed, and once again, I had caused one friend to descend into madness as the Code Key of Wrath transformed Seraphimon into Daemon, and myself to be imprisoned as the Code Key of Lust transformed me into Lilithmon and prevented me from crossing my own barrier. Over what felt like hundreds of years, I suppose I started to go insane as well as I fell equally into darkness while doing my best to prepare my own ways of stopping it."

"Things went like that for a long time, until I met you and your group of friends. Admittedly, I underestimated them at first. I though capturing those two would break the entire team, or at least force the children of Hope and Light into darkness in their despair. Imagine my surprise when the group not only banded together, but also voluntarily threw themselves into darkness and tamed it. Over my fights with you, I couldn't help but reminisce about the Legendary Warriors, and finally began to question myself. I must admit, the nostalgia was addictive, and I found myself extending my battles with you just for a glimpse of what I used to be like. Of course, that ended up with me finally seeing how wrong I had always been when you arrived here. I saw humans once again putting themselves in danger to save the world. Then, your partners did what I never could and conquered the darkness instead of merely taming it, freeing you and your Daemon from your demonic curse and forcing me to truly face my past self. Once again, I witnessed a Seraphimon being struck down trying to protect his friends, and an Ophanimon trying to purge the darkness on her own. Don't make the same mistakes I did. Trying to face the darkness on your own is a sure way to a life of regret."

"It's a good thing she's not alone, then! She has us!" Shocked at the sudden yell, Lilithmon looked down, where all the DigiDestined were gathered beneath her, clutching their injured yet determined looking In-Training level partners. The only exception was the Child of Light, who was clutching her Crest in one hand and the hand of the Child of Hope in the other. Suddenly, a bright pink light shot from her into Ophanimon, strengthening her Eden's Javelin attack. The next second, the Child of Hope sent a beam of golden light towards Ophanimon, changing the color of her attack to pink and gold and causing her to send one last massive burst towards Omnimon, causing the Holy Knight to disappear from view. Finally, Ophanimon could no longer maintain her attack, and she let her javelin fall to her side. Eventually, the glow faded, and Omnimon slowly became visible again.

Lilithmon actually found herself disappointed with the results. "It looks like the darkness was too strong for you to handle even with the help. Omnimon is still in his dark form of Omnimon Zwart. It's a shame. Listen, if you couldn't handle this, you can't begin to imagine fighting GranDracmon when that gate opens. All you can do is go back to your world and hold out as long as you can. You've done enough, and you can't win."

"Hey, don't tell them what they can or can't do!" Lilithmon gasped in shock as she heard the newest voice. Spinning back to Omnimon, she stared down the barrel of his Garuru Cannon, while Matt and Tai glared at her with open revulsion on their faces. While Tai had shouted the initial outburst, Matt was now taking his turn to address his former captor. "Yeah, you'd be surprised at what our little siblings have accomplished. After all, they beat your darkness, didn't they?"

"But, how can this happen? Omnimon is still in his viral form. You shouldn't be able—"

Tai was quick to interrupt. "What, we shouldn't be able to control it? What do you think we were doing the whole time you were controlling us like puppets? When we saw everybody else trying to master Dark Digivolution, we tried to do the same, figuring it would break your hold on us or at least stop us from rampaging if you ever let us go. Why do you think we managed to unlock Omnimon Zwart here so quickly? We were helping you do it! Sure, I took a bit longer to figure it out than Matt did, but if you gave us that much free time and no control over our bodies, what did you expect us to do in our minds?"

Matt continued his lecture. "Yeah, weren't you just saying how you had learned not to underestimate humans? We can do just about anything when we put our minds to it. Take right now for instance. I really want Omnimon to shoot you for kidnapping us and making TK and Patamon suffer, but I'm controlling my anger. After all, we kill you and you just turn back into a Code Key for some other Demon Lord to pick up and the gate still opens. However, if you really have changed, I'm willing to let you live. You can come with us, and we'll protect you from the other Demon Lords. The gate doesn't open, and we stop the apocalypse."

Lilithmon gave a genuine smile. "I guess I really have seen it all. Matt, the DigiDestined of Friendship, willing to spare someone who hurt his friends? You really have tamed the darkness within you. Unfortunately, I have to refuse your offer. No matter where I am, Daemon will be able to pull me to the island and Lucemon will be able to force me to conduct the ritual. Still, that might be the best time to strike. During the ritual, our Code Keys all get bonded to the gate, and our bodies are weakened to the point of being unable to fight back. If you strike then, you may be able to destroy all of our bodies and remove the keys from the gate before it opens. The ritual takes ten minutes to complete once the keys are bonded to the gate, so you must destroy us all in that window. Then, take the Code Keys and bury them as deep and as far apart as you can. Throw mine into a volcano for all I care. It might just prevent us all from returning within your lifetime, though nothing will prevent it for eternity. Still, at least it will keep Lucemon waiting, which is more than I can say I accomplished last time I tried stopping him."

However, at that moment Lilithmon began flickering out of existence. "What, now? Listen, I don't have much time. The gate is located on an island approximately a mile west of our current position. Just fly straight out and you'll see it. Be careful though, the island is permeating with a darkness well beyond the power of Black Requiem. If you get to close, your Digimon will involuntarily slide into their dark forms. Also, the island is guarded by an army of—"

Unfortunately, Lilithmon disappeared before she could finish her warning, leaving the DigiDestined feeling strapped for time. Omnimon lowered his two partners to the ground before he split back into his two rookie forms. Looking at the state of his team, Tai couldn't help but groan. "Listen, I know it's great that we are all back together, but we'll have time for a reunion later. It sounds like we only have ten minutes to save the world, and all we have are one tired Mega, two tired Rookies, and five beaten up In-Trainings. So, if anybody has any bright ideas, now would be a good time to share them."

Before anybody else could react, Ophanimon interjected. "Well, I may not be at full strength, but I have just enough energy to help us out in terms of firepower. Eden's Air!" Ophanimon threw her arms in the air, and golden rings of energy rose into the sky. Suddenly, a rainbow colored aura shined down on all the other Digimon, healing their wounds and causing all the In-Trainings to Digivolve to Rookie. With this completed, Ophanimon suddenly began glowing and shrunk down to Salamon. The puppy-like Digimon explained what she had done. "Are you guys all feeling better? My Eden's Air recharges and heals anybody I want it to, but I'm not sure if I had enough energy to do it properly."

All the Digimon responded that they had plenty of energy to fight now, with the exception of Biyomon who was currently glowing a bright red color. Suddenly, she grew to shocking size, and as the glow faded, she was revealed to be a massive golden bird with four wings wearing a gold faceplate and a Holy Ring around each ankle. Tai eyes went wide at the sudden change. "Wow, Sora, you picked a great time to unlock Biyomon's Mega form. How did you—?"

Tai stopped his question as he saw what Sora was doing. Apparently, she had tackled Matt to the ground, and was currently locked in a passionate kiss. Normally, Tai would have let them have their moment, but since the world was about to end if they didn't act soon, Tai knew he would have to split them up. Just as he was contemplating how to best do so, Biyomon suddenly used her new form's beak to pry Sora off of Matt. "Listen, Sora, I get it's been rough for you having to fight him the past couple of days, and it's obvious you really love him judging by the fact that I'm now in my Mega form of Phoenixmon, but there will be time for kissing later. Saving the world comes first."

With this last talk, Tai was instantly snapped back to his current situation. "Alright, here's what we are going to do. We all go as high of level as we can and rush in. If you have a dark form under control, use it- we can't afford to waste time with Digivolution or Slide Evolution. Izzy, I need a quick favor. Start a running timer so we know how much time we have. TK, Kari? Great job beating the darkness last time, but you'll have to do it again. Ophanimon and Seraphimon are the only ones who'll be able to stop the others if they switch to dark forms unexpectedly, so we'll need them on our side. Use MagnaAngemon's Magna Antidote to restore Salamon, and then we'll be off. We don't have time for anything else."

Knowing the gravity of the situation and thankful that Tai wasn't getting on his case for kissing Kari, TK immediately had Patamon Digivolve twice before MagnaAngemon used his Magna Antidote on Salamon, returning her to her Gatomon form. Then, all the gathered Digimon Digivolved to their Mega forms, with WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon DNA Digivolving. The group then began flying west, knowing they would be in for their toughest fight yet. Hopefully, the combined power of Omnimon Zwart, Phoenixmon, HerculesKabuterimon, Plesiomon, Puppetmon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon would be enough to see them through this fight.

* * *

Koji groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. It felt like his entire body was aching, which was strange. After all, Velgemon's attack shouldn't have left anything in its wake, so he really shouldn't have a body or feelings to begin with. Wondering how he could have survived, he slowly opened his eyes to see a girl with purple hair and glasses sitting next to him. Before Koji could ask what was going on, this girl quickly began explaining everything.

"Good, I'm glad you finally woke up. I was afraid Aquilamon had been a bit rough when he grabbed you all and flew you out of there, but I thought bruises would be much better than whatever would happen to you if that dome closed on you. Turns out I was right, since there isn't anything left in that entire section of food court except a crater. Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Miyako Inoue, but you can just call me Yolei. It's a long story about how I got that nickname, but that really isn't important right now."

"I'm Koji Minamoto. How are the others?"

"Oh, right. Don't worry, they'll all be fine. Cody is already up and about, and he just left to call for some help. The other two are still unconscious, but they're at least breathing and should be fine. I don't want to do too much, since we probably already made their injuries worse when we brought them here, but I figured that would be better that staying where that giant vulture could attack us."

"Where exactly are we?"

"Oh, we're just in a parking garage a few blocks from the community center. My partner, Aquilamon, flew in and got everybody out just before that other Digimon's attack finished, but we didn't have much time to pick a hiding place. I know picking a building that could easily collapse on top of us doesn't seem like the best idea, but we needed to find a place where we wouldn't be seen. Aquilamon dropped us off and then tried to lure that other Digimon away from the city so he wouldn't cause too much damage. So, here we are. Now, before he went for help, Cody told me you had some experience with the Digital World and even told me you had saved your brother from the powers of darkness while you were there, but he didn't really elaborate on your story. So, since we're both stuck here, how about we share our stories? I want to see how you saving your brother compares to me saving my boyfriend with the help of my friends."

As she finished saying this, Cody returned, saying he had finally managed to get his call through to the emergency service and an ambulance was on the way. Since they had nothing better to do, Koji, Cody, and Yolei began sharing the stories of their experiences with the Digital World, hoping Aquilamon would be able to distract Velgemon long enough for Davis and Ken to arrive.

Aquilamon silently cursed as Velgemon's Dark Vortex attack singed some feathers on the tip of his wing. He was having a harder and harder time evading the attacks, claws, and beak of his much larger pursuer. Originally, he had tried forcing Velgemon away from the city and out over the bay by ramming him with his Grand Horn attack and forcibly pushing him, but his attack had merely bounced off of the other Digimon. At least it served the purpose of drawing Velgemon's attention away from the remains of the convention center and the humans gathered there, but the maneuver forced Aquilamon to begin running for his life from the giant bird. As he swerved to avoid Velgemon's claws again, he found himself wishing he had had the time to Armor Digivolve to Halsemon when he was still with Yolei. Sure, as it stood, he was much faster than his opponent, and if he wanted to he could easily leave Velgemon behind. However, that would just give Velgemon the opening to attack the city again, so he couldn't afford to run away. Thus, Halsemon's smaller size and greater agility would be a much more useful asset at the moment as he sought to distract Velgemon until reinforcements could arrive.

Due to his musings, Aquilamon was once again a split second late dodging a Dark Vortex attack, and lost a few more wing feathers. Realizing he wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer, he decided to try a new tactic. Sure, his attacks were ineffective on Velgemon's body, but perhaps an attack to the eye would have some effect. Charging straight towards Velgemon, he launched his Blast Rings attack directly at his opponent's only open eye, but Velgemon managed to adjust the position of his head and fire yet another Dark Vortex. His attack blew straight through Aquilamon's blast, and the Champion level barely managed to turn his head before the attack blasted him directly where his wing connected to his body. No longer able to stay airborne, he began plummeting to the ocean below, reverting to Hawkmon on the way. He was expecting a rather painfully wet landing, but before he fell very far he suddenly was pulled sideways. Wondering what was going on, he opened his eyes to find himself laying on the floor of a blue dome, with a worried Davis and Ken looking down on him.

"Are you okay, Hawkmon? Where's Yolei?"

Hawkmon smiled at Ken's obvious concern for his partner, even if it meant he didn't seem to place much emphasis on the first of his two questions. "I think I'll be fine. I left Yolei with Cody and two others in a parking garage near the Odaiba Convention Center. Yolei was perfectly fine, but the other three could probably use medical help. Still, we need to worry about taking out Velgemon right away. Trust me, he's extremely dangerous."

"Relax, Hawkmon," Davis said, "we got this. It's not anything Imperialdramon can't handle. Now, enjoy the front row seats to a Positron Laser!" Hearing this, Imperialdramon gave an audible sigh. "You know, I'm the one who's supposed to call out my attacks, not you. Positron Laser!" Despite Davis's enthusiasm, Hawkmon really wasn't treated to a spectacular show. Sure, the dome he was in was directly behind the cannon Imperialdramon used to shoot his Positron Laser, but from this angle the cannon blocked his view of just about anything. Still, he knew what he would be seeing: the cannon charging itself with blue light, and then unleashing a destructive blue and purple blast.

Imperialdramon's blast headed straight towards Velgemon, who countered with his Dark Vortex attack. As the two beams collided in midair, Imperialdramon's attack began pushing back Velgemon's, until Velgemon started glowing crimson. With a massive surge of energy, he managed to push his attack all the way through Imperialdramon's and blasted the dragon directly in the face. It took Imperialdramon a few seconds to recover, but upon seeing Velgemon still glowing and preparing another attack, he quickly addressed his passengers. "Listen, everybody, this is going to get a bit rough. I need to Mode Change. Hawkmon, do you know what all this glowing means?" As he said this, he began Mode Changing to his more powerful Fighter Mode, violently jerking his passengers around as the formerly spacious dome on his back was shifted to a much smaller area directly on top of the dragon head that served as protection for his new form's chest.

As soon as Hawkmon steadied himself from the spinning, he answered Imperialdramon. "I'm sorry, but I didn't really get to see much of his abilities. Cody might know, since he was fighting him before I arrived." Hearing this, Davis immediately sent a message to Cody, and was lucky enough to receive a quick response. "Listen, Imperialdramon, the glow might increase his power, but it also eats away at him. Apparently, he's a replica Digimon that can't fully contain his power. He's sort of like a less-controlled version of BlackWarGreymon. You don't have to worry about holding anything back!"

"Great," Imperialdramon grunted, "I was _so_ worried about holding back. While you've been chatting, I've been doing my best to counter his blasts. He's about as strong as I am. I hope he burns out soon." Suddenly, Velgemon stopped his barrage of attacks and flew in to gore Imperialdramon. The Dragon Man Digimon was taken by surprise at how quickly his opponent managed to close the distance between them, but managed to react in time by forming his Splendor Blade at the last second. Velgemon impaled himself on the sword of light, and this last shock proved to be too much for him, as he suddenly exploded in a massive outburst of crimson light. Imperialdramon was blasted into the bay, yet he managed to maintain his Mega form. "Sorry about that, guys. Is everybody okay in there?"

"Well," Davis responded, "let's just say I don't think I'll ever be able to enjoy a roller coaster again after that ride. Still, we're all mostly okay, but we need a bit of a break. How about we get back with Yolei and Cody and see how everything is going on their end? The international DigiDestined can cover for us for a bit."

Hearing his partner's response, Imperialdramon sighed in relief. He Mode Changed back into his Dragon Mode to give his passengers a bit more room, and then he started flying towards the Odaiba Convention Center. After his fight with Velgemon, a break sounded like the perfect course of action. Hopefully, the world wouldn't need any more contribution from this particular team of DigiDestined.

* * *

Author's Note: And there we have it, the conclusion of the second arc. We've gotten Tai and Matt back, and everybody has access to at least one Mega form for the upcoming final battle, with Sora, Tai, Matt, Kari, and TK all having two. We've also done a fairly good job at stopping the invasion of Earth, which means the only action we have left is rushing the Gate in the third and final arc (well, more like mini-arc: I think it's only two chapters left). Once again, please leave any questions or comments you have.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

* * *

The DigiDestined had flown most of their trip in silence, until Tai suddenly called a halt. "Is it just me, or does it look like we are about to hit a wall?" Sure enough, approaching the edge of the DigiDestined's field of vision was what could only be described as a dark mass blocking their progress. "I know we are on a tight schedule, but no matter how much I want to run and save the world I can't really justify us running into anything this dangerous without a plan. How are we going to do this?"

"Leave it to me," Izzy answered. "This seems like the perfect time for me to try out my newest program. I've tried increasing the range of the Digimon Analyzer, both in terms of things it can analyze and actual range of effectiveness. If we want to see what we're up against, it'll be our best bet." Typing away on HerculesKabuterimon's back, Izzy managed to pull up the program before he suddenly gasped in shock and closed his laptop. "Well, it isn't technically a wall. Judging by what I came up with, this must have been the army Lilithmon was talking about."

"So," Matt asked, "what kind of army are we talking about?"

"Other than the obvious answers of big and evil, I can't give a full description. My computer just consumed all of its power trying to run that program to completion. Apparently, I tried scanning too many Digimon at once. However, the names I found before the crash are enough cause for concern. They're mostly Fallen Angel Digimon, but there are a few others. I recognized Devimon, IceDevimon, LadyDevimon, and Mephistomon. As if that weren't enough, there are quite a few Mega levels in there as well. And since I estimate that I only scanned a tenth of the army at most, there are probably plenty of nasty surprises waiting for us. Even if we were at full strength, we wouldn't be able to beat them. There are just too many."

"Well," Mimi answered, "I'm sorry Izzy, but I'm not going to sit here and worry about that. So what if we can't beat the whole army? We need to stop that gate from opening, and we don't have enough time to try to find a way around this army. I hate to say it, but we have to fight."

"I'm with Mimi," Joe answered. "Sure, we can't beat the whole army, but if the army is spread out that far, we might have a chance to punch through the line. Then, we have some of us stay back to hold the army off as long as possible while the others go on to face the Demon Lords."

"But that sounds like a suicide mission," TK protested. "We can't just leave someone behind to die!"

"Well," Matt answered, "we either do this or have millions of people and Digimon die because we failed to get to the gate. I'll stay back. Omnimon has the best chance of survival, and he also has some experience mowing down an army of enemies. We should be able to clear a lane right through the army and you can all take out the Demon Lords."

Sora started to protest, but Tai cut her off. "Matt's right. Omnimon is the best choice. Of course, he's my Digimon too, so I'll be staying with him. After all, if we can handle being shot by arrows of Hope and Light to save the world, we can handle this army. But just in case we can't, TK, you better take good care of Kari, or I'll haunt you until the day you die and then beat your soul to death."

Kari started crying at her brother's plan to sacrifice himself, but she was startled out of it when Izzy suddenly yelled out. "Everybody, listen! We can go on and on about how we all plan to sacrifice ourselves, but we have to think this through logically. Sure, Omnimon has the best chance against the army, but what happens to the rest of us when we fight the Demon Lords? Lilithmon was well beyond the power of even our Mega Digimon, and there are six more Demon Lords. We need to focus on getting our most powerful group to that fight instead of the army. For that, I think we should operate in three different cells. The most important cell will be the one that makes it to the Demon Lords and fights them. That unit should consist of Omnimon, Ophanimon, and Seraphimon. We'll need Omnimon's power in that fight, and Ophanimon's healing abilities will allow Omnimon to fight much longer than he normally would. I don't know if two Digimon will be enough, so Seraphimon is also in that group. He may not be as strong as Omnimon, but just like Angemon his attacks are most effective against evil Digimon, and we'll need that advantage. Besides, Angemon and MagnaAngemon both came through when we needed a win against Devimon and Piedmon, so he has a history of saving us when we don't appear to have a chance."

"Now, ideally we would have more people in the primary cell, but we might need everybody else to work against the army for the primary cell to get to their battle. That's where the other two cells come in. Joe and I will compose the first cell. Since we are the only two here who haven't at least accessed the Mega form through Dark Digivolution, we wouldn't be able to fight on the island anyway due to what Lilithmon told us about the concentration of dark energy. So, Plesiomon and HerculesKabuterimon will work on clearing as much of the path as possible in front of Omnimon before turning around and holding off any followers.

The third and final cell will be Sora and Mimi. Now, Sora may not have mastered the Mega level for Dark Digivolution, but with Puppetmon's help even if Ornismon makes an appearance it shouldn't hurt us too much. That means if all goes perfectly, Sora and Mimi will be able to reinforce the primary cell. However, if that isn't the case, they will take over the role Joe and I are playing once we have already been forced to make our stand. However, until the point that Joe and I leave, it would be best for you two to stay at the back of the group. After all, none of our Digimon can attack behind them with any sort of accuracy while they are flying forward without slowing down, so we need a rear guard. That's where Puppetmon comes in. Since she's riding on Phoenixmon anyway, she'll be able to face backwards and hold enemies off with her Puppet Pummel."

"Wow," Puppetmon responded, "and here I was feeling worried because I could only sort of hover instead of actually flying. Never thought that would become an advantage. Still, Izzy's plan sounds like the best bet for success. Anybody have any objections to it?"

TK shook his head. "I guess we don't really have any other choice. Just promise you'll all be careful. I don't want to celebrate saving the world with four funerals."

Sora gave a grim smile. "Hey, it's not like any of you have a great chance of survival either. Still, there isn't another way, so let's just get this over with. I'm not going to let the world end without knowing for sure that I did everything I could to stop it."

As the grim knowledge that they were embarking on a suicide mission gripped the DigiDestined, they got into the formation Izzy had suggested. Though they didn't talk about it, all of them were thinking the same thoughts. They all wished they had a chance to say goodbye to their families and the people they cared about, but knew they didn't have the luxury. A stronger wish was the desire that each one could do it alone so the other seven didn't have to face danger, but they knew it couldn't happen any other way. They had been drafted to save the world nine years ago, and they had long since outgrown the delusion that any one of them could sit out the fight. They flew out to face what was sure to be the final battle of this conflict, one way or another…

* * *

By the time the DigiDestined got close enough to the opposing army to make out some of their identities, they were engrossed in a firefight as numerous dark energy projectiles shot at them from the crowd. Luckily, Plesiomon was able to counter most of them with his Shaking Pulse attack, but that came with the drawback of cancelling any retaliatory strikes the DigiDestined launched as well. For a time, they managed to get by on the strength of HerculesKabuterimon's Giga Scissor Claw and Phoenixmon's Mach Wing, but the numbers began to take their toll. Eventually, a Phelesmon managed to break through their defenses and strike at Plesiomon with his pitchfork, knocking the Plesiosaur Digimon down almost to the surface of the ocean, where he was suddenly swarmed by a group of MarineDevimon from below while Phelesmon prepared to attack him with his Black Statue attack and send him plunging to the bottom of the Dark Ocean. Luckily for Plesiomon, HerculesKabuterimon intervened with his Mega Electro Shocker, but it was too late for Plesiomon to rejoin the group as he was cut off by too many enemies. Sticking to the plan, Izzy went down to help Joe and then hold off all of the enemies they had already passed on their charge in here.

With Izzy and Joe no longer with them, Sora and Mimi were now the only ones left to clear a path for the other four. Omnimon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon wanted to help out, but knew they had to save their energy for the fight ahead of them. Luckily, Plesiomon staying behind allowed Phoenixmon and Puppetmon to use their full range of attacks, and as Puppetmon provided a wide range of coverage by firing her Puppet Pummel attack from Phoenixmon's back, Phoenixmon was free to incinerate the enemies in front of her with her Crimson Flame attack. By continuing on like this, they managed to get within sight of the island, but at that moment a Ghoulmon managed to hit Phoenixmon with its Explosion Eye attack, sending Mimi, Sora, and Puppetmon falling towards the ocean. Puppetmon managed to catch the two girls with her strings before they hit the water, and managed to keep them aloft until Phoenixmon recovered enough to catch the two humans. However, this left Puppetmon vulnerable, and before she could defend herself she was assaulted by a LadyDevimon, losing her hammer in the process. Seeing the forces currently surrounding them, Phoenixmon decided she could no longer afford to save any energy, and launched her Starlight Explosion attack.

When she heard her partner call out the name of this attack, Sora expected to see a giant fireball, but instead, golden sparkles spread from Phoenixmon's wings and coated all of the Digimon in the area. Expecting something more dramatic, Sora was about to complain when suddenly all the affected Digimon began changing. The Ghoulmon changed color from black to white, while the Devimon and LadyDevimon shifted to Angemon and Angewomon. However, the sudden recruitment of the enemy army proved too good to be true, as they shifted back into their corrupted forms after a few seconds. Despite this, Sora still couldn't stop herself from smiling: while she and Mimi would still have to fight those foes, Phoenixmon's attack had at least stalled all the enemies blocking the way to the island, and before they had shifted back the others had managed to get through. Their mission had been a success, and the attack force had entered the enemy base. Now, all she could do was hope they succeeded and fight to make sure she survived long enough to congratulate them.

* * *

Having made it to the island, Matt, Tai, Kari, and TK were all thoroughly unimpressed. Instead of a grand castle or other such sign this was an evil hideout, all that could be seen were bare rocks and a few mountain peaks. Judging from previous experience, main villains tended to show off on their home bases: Devimon had a palace on top of Infinity Mountain, Etemon had a train that had every gadget needed for a rock concert, Myotismon had his castle and chariot, and the Dark Masters had twisted the entire world into a new shape and built a palace on top of that. Seeing a completely barren island, Tai and Matt were beginning to doubt if Lilithmon had been truthful when she had claimed this was the proper location, but a sudden pillar of dark energy blasted upward from the center of the island and put any doubts to rest. Fearing they might already be too late, the Digimon quickly flew to the source, and were confronted by a solid black barrier. Omnimon tried cutting through it with his Grey Sword, but the blade merely bounced off.

"Well," Kari said, "it looks like we're in the right place, but how are we supposed to stop them if we can't get in there? It's not like they'll just lower the barrier so we can win. Even though Lilithmon sort of looked like she was on our side at the end there, the other six wouldn't allow it."

"That's easy," Tai responded. "In order to get in, we just have to knock. Really, really loudly. Everybody, hit it with your best shot!" As all the Digimon nodded their heads, they prepared their most damaging attacks. Ophanimon conjured ten crystals for her Sefirot Crystals attack, while Seraphimon created seven glowing orbs of light for his Seven Heavens. Omnimon merely extended his Garuru Cannon and fired it as soon as the others were ready to fire their attacks. The three attacks crashed into the barrier at the same point, causing it to splinter apart. With the barrier gone, the DigiDestined could now see exactly what they were facing. Lying in the ground where the center of the barrier had been was a giant set of double doors with the appearance of a strange skeleton. Carved into this gate were seven different circles, one for each color of the rainbow. However, it wasn't the gate itself that caught the DigiDestined's attention, but the Digimon standing within the circles. While they all recognized Lilithmon standing in the green circle, only Tai and Matt could recognize the other six, since Daemon had removed his cloak and revealed his bestial form within his orange circle. However, even TK and Kari could guess that these were the seven Digimon they had to stop, so they prepared to attack when a smug voice began addressing them.

"Ah, so these are the DigiDestined who have caused so much trouble for our forces. I must admit, it was enjoyable watching you carve a path through those inferior fools, but I still find myself rather disappointed. The last time I came into conflict with a group of humans, they were so much stronger than you are now. I was hoping to prove my superiority, but you just aren't worth the effort."

Matt and Tai growled at the insult, but Omnimon decided on a much more active approach and fired his Garuru Cannon directly at the half angel, half demon figure standing within the red circle. However, as soon as the blast hit and exploded, the voice continued as if nothing had happened.

"Why do some beings just refuse to see that I am far superior to them? Did you honestly expect a blast like that to hurt Lucemon, leader of the Seven Great Demon Lords? You might think it strange that I hold my position, given that I am only an Ultimate level while my associates are all Megas, but I assure you I do not need my Mega form to dominate my brethren. Just ask your friend Lilithmon about my special abilities. You may have thought her treason had given you all the information you needed to beat us, but she had yet to see my particular skills. She became the victim of the first of these skills when I trapped her consciousness within her body. Now, she will be forced to watch helplessly as her body acts against her will and opens the gate. After all, treason deserves something much worse than death, wouldn't you agree? You just demonstrated my second trick of being able to still fight while opening the gate, even though an attack of that level really didn't warrant me defending myself. And now, you shall get to see my third trick!"

As Lucemon shouted this out, all seven demon lords began rapidly pulsating black and white before they suddenly deformed, turning into a large black leg anchored to the ground with red claws. Each of these legs had a single eye on top, and the legs came together into a giant mouth. Resting on top of the legs was a red platform that supported the grotesque beast's purple head, which featured an eighth eye inside what appeared to be another mouth. Not wanting to see what this monstrosity could do, Ophanimon, Seraphimon, and Omnimon all fired at the creature, but their blasts all dissipated on contact with the beast's skin. Suddenly, Lucemon's voice addressed the shocked group.

"So, how do you like my newest trick? I have to admit, I'm having the hardest time coming up with a name for it. It's similar to DNA Digivolution, but that would imply that I had become absorbed into a group consciousness instead of maintaining full control. It's more like I crossed together the six other Demon Lords and absorbed them into myself to become the Super Demon Lord Ogudomon. I am now a living monument to the sins of the universe! You cannot hope to harm me, as your sins and the sins of your partners have infused themselves into your attacks and thus only feed my power! You can only watch as I finish opening the gate and claim my rightful place as ruler of Earth and the Digital World!"

* * *

Izzy and Joe were not faring well in their battle. Sure, the majority of the demon army had chosen to ignore them and press on, but the enemies that remained behind still appeared to be endless. Even with two Mega level Digimon on their side, the continual barrage of champions with the occasional Ultimate was quickly wearing them down.

"Is there any end to this?" Joe asked as Plesiomon destroyed a pair of IceDevimon with his Water Tail Blaster. "Remember back when we first saw MetalSeadramon and he completely wiped out the eight of us at Champion level? Back then, you said there was no way eight champions could beat one Mega. Well, it looks like we're going to find out exactly how many it takes pretty soon if we don't do something." Joe sighed before continuing. "Still, at least we tried our best. It just looks like we're in the same boat as Piximon and Whamon against the Dark Masters, where our best only bought time for others to win."

"Whamon, that's it! I think I might have a way to get us out of this mess. After all, Plesiomon's Sorrow Blue attack is perfect for a situation like this, but we can't use it without taking HerculesKabuterimon out of the fight as well, and if that happened, Plesiomon would be alone against any enemy that was out of range. However, Sorrow Blue works as an assault with sonic waves, so if I could somehow temporarily block HerculesKabuterimon from sensing the vibrations that make up the attack, he shouldn't be affected."

"And how exactly did Whamon lead you to that idea when you hadn't thought of it before?"

"Well, I've been trying to think of a way to make HerculesKabuterimon immune to Sorrow Blue for a while, but I didn't want to mention it until I figured it out. That's where Whamon comes in. Remember when I managed to re-route all of his sensory information to my computer while we were trying to get away from MetalSeadramon? If I can access the sensory data, I might be able to code a way to block out certain information."

"Couple problems with that, Izzy," HerculesKabuterimon managed to grunt out as the fried a Mephistomon with his Mega Electro Shocker. "First, I'm an insect. I figure out where my enemies are more by feeling their presence than by actually seeing them, so eliminating incoming vibrations might severely reduce my effectiveness. Second, how exactly do you plan on accessing that data? I don't exactly have an external USB port for you to hook up your laptop."

"That's true, but neither did Whamon and I managed. You're just going to have to swallow me so I can access your nervous system from the inside. Please don't try to talk to me about it, since I am trying my best not to think about what is about to happen. Anyway, once I access your data, I am going to make absolutely sure I can restore your senses before I do anything to tamper with them. When I'm ready, I'll use my D-Terminal to contact Joe, have him answer back on if Plesiomon is capable of using Sorrow Blue at the moment or too busy fighting. As soon as Plesiomon has an opening, I'll flip the switch, and then Plesiomon will attack. Then, before any more enemies have a chance to close in, I'll restore power to your ears. Now, can we please do this before I change my mind?"

Joe had to avert his eyes as HerculesKabuterimon grabbed Izzy off of his back and brought his partner towards his mouth. Sure, he had personally travelled within Whamon's mouth numerous times in the past, but the thought of being eaten alive was still too much for him to sit back and watch. Still, if Izzy was willing to go through all of that in an effort to increase their chances of survival, Joe knew he would have to put that much more effort into this fight. "Alright Plesiomon, it'd be a shame if we just let Izzy get eaten for nothing. Let's make sure we can keep these guys busy until it pays off!"

* * *

Just as Izzy and Joe were facing a desperate situation, Sora and Mimi were also struggling. Phoenixmon's Starlight Explosion attack had severely depleted her energy, leaving her much less effective than she normally would have been. Likewise, Puppetmon had lost her hammer, forcing her to fight only with her strings and her Flying Cross Cutter. In order to ensure her wooden cross would keep hitting enemies and returning to her, she was using one set of strings to control it while the other set of strings was tied around the neck of a Ghoulmon in an attempt to redirect all of its attacks towards enemies. Unfortunately, this left both of Ghoulmon's arms open and free, and he used his Grey Claw technique to free himself while simultaneously firing a Death Arrow attack that severed the strings Puppetmon was using to control her own attack. This left Puppetmon defenseless, and she only managed to avoid the oncoming Explosion Eye attack thanks to Phoenixmon swooping in at the last second. Seeing the deplorable condition of her partner, Mimi was quick to plan a new strategy.

"Listen, Puppetmon, you can't keep fighting like you are now. You've lost all of your weapons, and you can only float instead of actually flying, so you're just a big target at the moment. You'll have to change into Lillymon. Sure, you'll be decreasing in overall power, but at least you'll be able to fight back instead of just sitting around." Nodding her head, Puppetmon began glowing, but instead of becoming the child-sized Lillymon, she quickly grew into the large tree form of Cherrymon, managing to send Phoenixmon plummeting towards the shallow ocean waters around the shore of the island. Luckily, Mimi realized her mistake and had Cherrymon revert back to Woodmon before reactivating her Crest without trying for a Dark Digivolution, allowing Lillymon to finally appear and fly off into the battle. However, the damage had been done, and Phoenixmon barely managed to make a safe landing on the shore of the island before reverting all the way back to Nyokimon and promptly passing out. Lillymon was glad the two humans had landed safely, but now she faced a much larger problem: she was exhausted and fighting as a lone Ultimate against an army that had worn two Megas down and showed no signs of letting up.

However, fighting alone did come with some advantages. Before, she would have had to worry about hitting Phoenixmon if she used any wide-area attacks, but now she could only hit enemy combatants. Using this to her advantage, she unleashed her Temptation attack and created a dense pink cloud of pollen that spread throughout the air in front of her. While the cloud eventually dissipated, any Digimon that became caught in it suddenly had its energy drained, resulting in numerous Champion level Digimon plunging to the ocean below as they lost too much energy and could no longer remain conscious. Unfortunately, the cloud's effect on Ultimate and Mega Digimon was much less severe, and Lillymon was suddenly grabbed from behind by a Phelesmon, restraining her arms in order to prevent her from attacking.

"You've fought well, my little flower, but I'm afraid your fight is now over. The humans who dared to interfere with the master's plan shall all perish, but I think I'll keep you alive. After all, it would be a shame to let something as delicate as you come to harm without enjoying your beauty first."

Lillymon suddenly stopped struggling and give a grinned. "What, you'd really let me live to be a little ray of sunshine in the Dark Area? How about you get a bit of a taste of that right now? Sunburst Vine!" Long thorns suddenly burst from Lillymon's body, impaling Phelesmon and destroying him before he even realized what had happened. However, the slight delay had allowed the rest of the army to close in on the defenseless DigiDestined, forcing Lillymon to skip out on the obvious quip about every rose having a thorn to fire her Flower Cannon and scatter the swarming Fallen Angels. However, before she could fly in and protect the humans, a second Phelesmon caught her by surprise and hit her with its Black Statue attack, petrifying her and sending her crashing into the ocean below. Seeing their last Digimon being taken out of the fight, Sora couldn't help but feel the weight of the end pressing down on her.

"We…we failed. After all that work saving the worlds, this is how it ends? Dying on a beach in the Dark Ocean while the world ends because we didn't stop it? I'll never get married, never have kids, never get to say goodbye to mom and dad… Why did it have to be like this? Couldn't somebody else just—"

Before Sora could continue to dwell on the depression, Mimi slapped her. "Listen, Sora, I get that this situation isn't the best, but you can't let yourself think like that. Sure, we lost, but that doesn't mean we failed. We came here to buy TK, Kari, Matt, and Tai the time they needed to save the world. For all we know, they're about to stop the Demon Lords and they only did it because they didn't have to deal with this army. Sure, we might not make it to see the world be saved, but we'll still know we saved it. We were chosen as DigiDestined for a reason, and we've made too many friends to just wish that all away! I don't know about you, but I've spent enough time crying and running away in my life. If this army thinks they can just stroll past me, they've got another thing coming!"

As Mimi shouted this out, a bright green light suddenly obscured everything in the area, blinding many of the opposing Digimon. However, even a dramatic showing from Mimi's Crest wasn't enough to deter the forces for long, and ten Digimon quickly flew in at the two girls. Despite her confidence, Mimi couldn't help but close her eyes at the sight of all the incoming claws, but after a few seconds passed without her being slashed or stabbed in any way, she carefully reopened her eyes to a stunning sight, as glowing pink rose petals were swirling around her and Sora. Looking around for an explanation, she was shocked to find a tall woman wearing a red jumpsuit, black thigh-high boots, and a green cape with a white underside held in place by a pink jewel. However, the giant rose flower she wore as a hat and the two thorny vines coiled around each of her arms added more of a plant theme to the rest of her dominatrix type outfit. Despite the interesting fashion choices, however, Mimi couldn't help but grin as she recognized the new form of her partner.

"Wow, Palmon, you look great! Thank you for saving us, and you did it with such style too! Are those actually rose petals?" Mimi could see her partner blush at the compliment before she started to explain. "Really, Mimi, I should be thanking you. If you hadn't activated your Crest when you did, I'd still be a statue under the ocean. You freed me and allowed me to Digivolve into my normal Mega form of Rosemon. As for the rescue, the rose petals you see are part of my Forbidden Temptation attack. They may look like giant flowers, but each petal is sharp enough to cut through stone. When I spin them around like this they make a great defense, but you should see what happens when I use them to attack. Forbidden Temptation!"

Rosemon cupped her hands to the jewel on her chest, and a bright pink glow spread from the jewel throughout her entire body, causing her cape and vines to disappear. A giant rose suddenly bloomed from her hands, and with a blast of pink energy all the petals from this rose in addition to the petals still floating in the air shot forward and sliced right through the approaching enemies. When the glow faded, Rosemon's usual outfit had returned, and she turned towards the two humans, who were merely gasping in shock. "So, what do you think? Am I not the most beautiful Mega level Digimon you've ever seen?"

Before the humans could answer, the same Ghoulmon Puppetmon had been controlling came flying in seeking revenge for its temporary lack of freedom. Rosemon merely sighed and flicked out her left arm, causing the vine to whip out and wrap around Ghoulmon. Calling out "Thorn Whip", Rosemon sent an electric jolt down the whip, and the Ghoulmon immediately stopped attacking and landed next to the two DigiDestined. "Sorry if I scared you girls, but you won't have to worry about him from now on. Anybody who gets caught in my Thorn Whip is forced to obey me. Now, how about we start showing this army what happens when you mess with a lady?"

With that, Rosemon hopped on Ghoulmon's back, and the captive beast immediately took to the sky once again, but this time it began firing its attacks at the other members of the Fallen Angel army. Watching this play out, Sora snapped out of her shock and began questioning Mimi.

"Mimi, do you ever think something might be off with your Crest? Looking at everybody else, our Dark forms are a lot meaner than our normal forms, but it seems the other way around with you. Puppetmon and Cherrymon are really polite, but Rosemon is a bit more… sadistic for lack of a better term. Seriously, she's wearing a skintight outfit that leaves nothing to the imagination, said outfit disappears when she uses one of her attacks, and she seems to enjoy enslaving enemies. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was auditioning for the role of Demon Lord of Lust!"

"Sora, you need to stop putting so much stock in appearances. Maybe you can't see it, but I can tell most of that is an act. Palmon's actually really self-conscious about her new form, but she knows she doesn't have time to worry about it so she's putting on this persona to compensate for her insecurity. Sure, she has an attack that enslaves opponents and that sounds evil, but think about it this way: if there's ever a situation where some Digimon gets controlled by a Dark Ring or Black Gear, she could use that attack to immobilize the rampaging Digimon so somebody else could destroy the problem without hurting the Digimon itself. As for looks, it's not like she can control that. Can Biyomon decide she doesn't want feathers, or MetalGreymon decide he doesn't want a mechanical arm? The outfit is part of her very existence, and she can't control that any more than humans can control their biology."

Sora smiled at her friend's passionate defense of her partner. "I guess you're right. It's funny, back when we first came to the Digital World, who would have ever thought you would be able to lecture me about putting too much stock in appearances? Still, Rosemon really is amazing. Now I know exactly what to picture when somebody mentions a force of nature. I just hope all the others are doing as well as we are."

* * *

Author's Note: Well, second to last chapter right here. Can't believe I'm this close to finishing the story. Anyway, now everybody has unlocked both their normal and Dark Mega forms (except Izzy and Joe, who I can't figure out a good Dark evolution path for. Does anybody have any suggestions?) We've started the fighting, and each of the three groups has at least made it far enough that the goal is in sight. Still, despite the importance of the battle at the gate, I can't help but think Rosemon stole the show- I probably had a hard time turning down the awesome factor from the anime character that inspired much of what she does. See if any of you can figure it out. Leave your guesses along with any questions or comments in terms of a review or a PM. Hope you enjoy it as we head into the final chapter! It will be a shorter chapter- it was originally just a continuation of this, but I decided the chapter was too long and had to be split up.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Well, here we are with the final chapter. Thank you to everybody who's been sticking around and reading this. I may not own Digimon, but I'm proud that I can say I am the author of a completed story. Enjoy the conclusion to story 1!

* * *

Joe was desperately hoping Izzy would give him the go-ahead soon. HerculesKabuterimon and Plesiomon had slowly been pushing their way forward towards the island to provide any backup that might be needed, but lately something seemed to be slowing HerculesKabuterimon down, forcing Plesiomon to fight off the increasingly dense swarm as they moved towards their destination. Even though his medical training hadn't prepared him to diagnose aquatic reptiles, he could tell his partner was dealing with extreme exhaustion and did not want to find out what would happen if he eventually collapsed while flying over the Dark Ocean in the middle of an opposing army. Luckily, before that had a chance to happen, Joe's D-Terminal received a message from Izzy claiming he was ready whenever Joe was. Looking around at the swarm of enemies, Joe decided that now would be the best time to use their secret weapon, and told Izzy to shut of HerculesKabuterimon's ability to feel vibrations right away. As soon as he got confirmation from Izzy, Joe immediately told Plesiomon to use his Sorrow Blue attack, and the sea dragon did just that, unleashing an unearthly wail that caused all the enemies in the surrounding area to either run away as they lost the will to fight, or plunge straight into the ocean as they lost all will to move. Joe glanced to HerculesKabuterimon to see if he was all right, only to find the insect apparently doubled over in pain. He was about to have Plesiomon fly over there to make sure he was all right when the insect suddenly put his claws to his mouth and made a terrible retching sound. He then took his hands away from his mouth to reveal a badly shaken Izzy sitting there covered in what Joe dearly hoped was only saliva. "Sorry about that, Izzy," the insect apologized, "but for some reason, you just gave me some terrible heartburn. Are you okay?"

Izzy managed to wipe off his face before responding. "I think so. Apparently, I forgot to take account the fact that we were in the Dark Ocean instead of the Digital World when I made that plan. Just like we become data whenever we enter the Digital World, you became much more organic when we entered this realm. You were still partly digital, so I could access your senses, but you also had a much more organic interior than Whamon did. The only things keeping me from passing out in panic at my first-hand view of the insect digestive system is the fact that I stayed above the midgut and thus only came into contact with saliva, which lacks the enzymes needed to dissolve me for nutrients. As long as I keep telling myself that, I should be able to prevent myself from going into shock."

"Well, that's good, because having you lodged in my throat isn't going so well for me." As he said that, he suddenly began glowing and shrunk back to Pabumon, causing himself and Izzy to begin falling from the sky. Plesiomon tried to fly in to save them, but after unleashing his Sorrow Blue attack, he had used up all of his energy and could no longer maintain his Mega form. He also began glowing and shrunk down to his baby form of Pichimon, and Joe found himself in the same state as Izzy as the fell towards the ocean below from a height Joe knew was too great to survive without injury. He hugged Pichimon towards him and closed his eyes, but instead of crashing into the water, he hit something that felt almost scaly well before he should have felt an impact. Opening his eyes, he saw that he and Izzy had landed on the back of a large green dragon that was currently flying out to sea. However, they weren't alone, as a monkey and a small rat were also calmly riding the dragon. Before he could ask what any of this meant, his attention was diverted by the appearance of a giant red phoenix flying above him. Izzy immediately realized who the phoenix was, and decided to fill Joe in.

"Relax, Joe, that's Zhuqiaomon, one of the Digimon Sovereign. He's on our side, though I'm not exactly sure what he's doing in the Dark Ocean of all places…"

"What, did you really think the four rulers of the Digital World would just stand by when somebody rips a giant tunnel open into the Dark Ocean after all of our attempts to enter? As soon as we became aware of the portal you had opened, the four of us gathered our personal bodyguards and went forth to wage war. However, we had not predicted the necessity of crossing an ocean, so much of our force had to stay behind. As it stands, we only managed to bring five of the twelve Deva with us, and Baihumon, Ebonwumon, and Sandiramon will have to swim instead of fly to the island. Azulongmon has gone on ahead, so now we must hurry towards the fight. I will not let darkness consume our land!"

"Not that I'm not thankful for saving us," Joe responded, "but why exactly did you do so? Forgive me for being blunt, but you haven't exactly gone out of your way to help us ever before, and you sound so focused on the upcoming battle that I'd have thought you'd just ignore us and go straight there."

"Watch your tone, human. Azulongmon may regard you DigiDestined highly, but not all Sovereigns share his view. However, the fact remains that I do owe you my freedom, and I loathe being indebted to anybody. When Azulongmon sent Majiramon after you to save you, I decided to come along and pay off my debt."

"How exactly did you find us, anyway?" Izzy asked. "We're in the middle of an ocean, and I couldn't even tell you where we are."

"Are you foolish enough to think we wouldn't notice a massive sonic wave? Upon your use of Plesiomon's Sorrow Blue attack, we were immediately alerted to your location. Such attacks may be effective on your enemy, but they have no chance of affecting me. Of course, on the off chance that Kumbhiramon, Majiramon, and Makuramon were not as resilient as I was, I took the precaution of using my Sonic Zephyr to slice the air to the point where the sonic wave was too distorted to have an effect. Now, we must go onward to the final battle!"

* * *

Tai was quickly coming to the conclusion that there was nothing more annoying than fighting an enemy who did absolutely nothing. Omnimon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon were fighting to save the world, yet Ogudomon was simply sitting still on top of the gate, and no attacks they had used had managed to stop him. After he had shrugged off all of their ranged attacks, they had tried to engage at close quarters combat, but Seraphimon's Excalibur wasn't enough to cut off Ogudomon's legs, as the wound kept closing as soon as it was made. Seeing this, Omnimon decided to try the same technique that he had used to kill Diaboromon and had later been used by Imperialdramon to kill Armageddemon and stabbed Ogudomon straight through the face. However, despite the sword currently lodged in his head, Ogudomon still managed to laugh everything off while standing perfectly still. Tai knew there were only minutes at most left to stop the gate from opening, but he was starting to run out of ideas for things they could try to stop it.

Matt was likewise reaching his wit's end, but he still had one more solution that to him was at least worth a shot. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but we really don't have many options right now. Basically, Ogudomon is acting like a key to that door, and we want that door to stay locked. We've been trying to blow up the key, but what if we just fly it somewhere else? If we can separate him from the gate, he can't open it. He may be immune to any attacks of ours because of our sins or whatever, but that won't stop us from grabbing him and pulling him away."

Tai nodded. "Sure, but I've got an improvement to your plan. Instead of just flying him away, we fly him over a volcano and drop him in. I highly doubt he'd be immune to that, since a volcano can't really sin in the first place." Omnimon rolled his eyes at the simplicity of the plan, but realized he really didn't have the luxury of time to complain. He flew down underneath Ogudomon and tried flying away with the giant spider. Despite the simplicity of this strategy, it was the first time the DigiDestined had managed to force a reaction other than laughter, as Ogudomon was forced to dig his claws into the stone in an effort to avoid being carried away. However, Omnimon persisted in his efforts, and only ceased when Ogudomon shouted out "Catedral" and unleashed a shockwave from its giant mouth. Omnimon was blasted away, but the attack didn't seem to do any damage to Tai and Matt, let alone Omnimon. Seeing this, TK was suddenly struck by inspiration.

"Look, maybe we've been going about this the wrong way. Tai and Matt didn't take any damage from his attack, which seems odd considering he's a fusion of seven really powerful Megas. Maybe he's a lot weaker than we've been thinking. After all, if he's immune to every attack thrown at him, he doesn't need to worry about how strong he is. If we find a way around his immunity, we should be able to take him down in one hit! The problem is, we need to find a way to get around that first… maybe we should just try everything and hope something works?"

Kari became thoughtful. "Well, he's shown he isn't affected by any of our damaging attacks, but maybe we can get him with a non-damaging one. The problem is, Omnimon's only non-damaging move is a shield, and Ophanimon's moves either heal or purify their targets. Since she couldn't purify Omnimon fully, I doubt she could purify Ogudomon… but that doesn't mean it couldn't help! I've got it! Ophanimon, use Eden's Javelin on Seraphimon!"

Instantly catching on to her plan, TK addressed his partner. "Alright, Seraphimon, as soon as she hits you, hit Ogudomon with your strongest attack. It's about time we squashed this spider!" Seraphimon nodded and began planning his next move. "Okay, I know exactly what to do, but it's risky. Ophanimon should be fine after this attack, but TK and Kari will need to get behind Omnimon's Brave Shield Omega with Tai and Matt if they want to survive. And TK? This next attack will have a similar effect as what happened when I fought Devimon. I'll do my best to hold onto just enough energy to survive, but just in case I can't, I want you to promise you won't blame yourself. It is the only way to stop him, and I'd much rather die myself than see both of our worlds destroyed."

A dark look crossed TK's eyes, but Kari managed to convince Seraphimon TK would be fine before dragging him towards Omnimon for shelter. Along the way, Kari started talking to TK to convince herself that he would be fine as well. "Listen, TK, I realize this must be the worst possible thing for you. I wasn't there when Angemon sacrificed himself the first time, and I can't really imagine what it would be like to lose Gatomon like that, but you can't beat yourself up over this. I may not have experience with a partner dying, but I do know what it's like having a Digimon sacrifice himself so you can survive. I wish I could have saved Wizardmon's life, but he knew the only way to save me was to jump in front of that attack. If he hadn't died, I would have, but he was willing to completely sacrifice everything so his friend Gatomon could be happy. Now, Seraphimon's planning on doing the same thing for you. If you can't find it within you to be happy, wouldn't his sacrifice be for nothing? But I don't think you'll have to worry about that happening. He's a Mega now, and he should be better suited to controlling that kind of power than he was the first time he became a Champion."

"I guess you're right," TK sniffed, and Kari was surprised to see how quickly he had started crying. "Let's just get to Omnimon. I get that this has to happen, but it doesn't mean we can't get it over with quickly." Kari nodded, and began running the rest of the way to Omnimon. When they arrived, the received some questioning looks from their older brothers, but as soon as they explained the plan, Omnimon nodded and raised his Brave Shield Omega. As soon as the humans were behind the best shelter available at the time, Ophanimon began charging up her rainbow aura and fired a powerful blast of her Eden's Javelin attack directly at Seraphimon. As soon as the rainbow beam hit him, Seraphimon flew up right next to Ogudomon and began glowing with an intense white light. Before Ogudomon could react, Seraphimon called out "Rising Halo!", and a giant white orb suddenly exploded out of him, looking exactly like the effects of his suicidal Hand of Fate attack nine years ago.

* * *

Tai coughed as he slowly came around. Even with Omnimon and the Brave Shield Omega between him and the blast, Seraphimon's last attack had still managed to knock him out. Suddenly remembering that he had been operating on a time limit, he instantly snapped awake and looked around, praying he wouldn't see the incarnation of all darkness roaming free. However, a quick scan showed no such feature. Where Ogudomon had been standing before was nothing but empty space, and the only being left on the Gate of the Deadly Sins was a small white blob he recognized as Poyomon, Patamon's baby form. He was glad Seraphimon had managed to survive the attack, but that left him wondering about the state of everybody else. Glancing around, he saw Omnimon shakily getting back to his feet, while Matt, Kari, and TK were all slowly regaining consciousness. There was also a small white Digimon he didn't know the identity of a small ways away that he couldn't identify but assumed was Gatomon's baby form. However, the most disturbing feature of the scene was the seven other slowly stirring bodies: while Ogudomon had been blown apart, he had apparently only split back into the Seven Demon Lords instead of being destroyed outright. That meant, if he didn't act soon, they could easily get back onto the Gate and finish opening it unopposed.

"Listen, Omnimon, it might not be fair, but you have to blast them before they recover! Now's our only chance!" Omnimon, still a bit woozy from the effects of the blast, chuckled. "Didn't you yell at Infermon for attacking a Digivolving opponent? Still, I guess you're right." He shakily extended his Garuru Cannon and took aim at the nearest Demon Lord, the red crocodile known as Leviamon. Knowing his aim wasn't going to be the best and the time for subtlety had long since passed, he unleashed a furious barrage of the freezing blasts and only stopped when he saw Leviamon's body splinter into frozen pieces of data and a glowing blue circle that must have been his Code Key.

Moving to his next target, Omnimon began firing at the demonic biker Beelzemon and managed to reduce him to a yellow Code Key, but by the time he had finished attacking, the other Demon Lords had all returned to their feet. Luckily, they all seemed angry at Lucemon for his latest stunt, and looked to be more interested in attacking each other than Omnimon at the moment. The dog-like Belphemon was the first to fly towards Lucemon, and he used his Gift of Darkness attack to coat his claws in black flames in an attempt to destroy the other Demon Lord. However, Lucemon responded by throwing two glowing orbs: one black and one white. When the two orbs came in contact, Belphemon was suddenly trapped in a spinning orb of black and white squares. When the orb shattered, there was no trace of Belphemon except a glowing indigo Code Key, which Lucemon quickly absorbed.

Unfortunately, Lucemon and Belphemon's fight had distracted the DigiDestined, but not all of the Demon Lords. Barbamon used Omnimon's distraction as an opening to launch his Dark Inferno attack, engulfing the Royal Knight in black flames. He then flew in close and lashed out with his Greedy Wand attack, striking the burning Digimon and forcing him to split into two small Digimon Tai didn't know the names of. However, he recognized the small black Digimon as Agumon's baby form, which meant the small red Digimon must have been the same for Gabumon. Still, the fact that they had survived was little consolation, as this meant the only thing the DigiDestined had to defend themselves were four scattered and unconscious Baby level Digimon, and they were currently staring down one of four remaining Demon Lords.

The bearded Demon Lord laughed maniacally before addressing the four DigiDestined, who had finally all regained consciousness. "Perhaps you are wondering why I have allowed your partners to live despite me having the ability to absorb their data so easily. The answer is simple: I want to absorb the complete set all at once! Pandemonium Lo—"

However, before Barbamon could finish calling out his attack, he was struck dumb by the sudden appearance of a set of claws protruding from his chest. As Barbamon corroded into data and a purple Code Key, the DigiDestined were able to see the identity of their savior: Lilithmon. "Don't get the wrong idea about that. His attack would have fried me too, so the only way to save myself was… what are you laughing at?" Lilithmon wasn't quite sure how to handle the fact that the four DigiDestined were now laughing at her. Eventually, Kari managed to calm down enough to explain. "We just know better, Lilithmon. We've seen you actually start to care about us through this whole ordeal, so your denial is just so funny. Just because you're a Demon Lord doesn't mean you have to act all evil."

Before Lilithmon could react to Kari's revelation, she was suddenly punched into the ground by an angry Lucemon. As he absorbed Barbamon's Code Key, he started ranting to the other Demon Lord. "Did you really think you could get away with your stunt, Lilithmon? I allowed you your freedom before, but now I see I was too lenient! You're Code Key shall become the fifth in my collection, and you shall know the eternal pain of being locked away inside of me! Ultimate Sacri—"

"Aurora Force!" Before Lucemon had a chance to finish his attack, a blue bolt of lightning struck him in the chest and sent him flying backwards. Wondering who would dare have the nerve to attack him, Lucemon looked skyward to see the giant blue dragon that was Azulongmon, the Sovereign of the eastern quadrant. Before he could respond with an attack in kind, he was once again blasted, this time by two green energy beams courtesy of the Double Dragon Wave attack belonging to Ebonwumon, the twin-headed turtle who was the Sovereign of the northern quadrant. Before Lucemon even had time to recover, he was hit by a coiling spurt of flame from Zhuqiaomon, the phoenix who was the Sovereign of the southern quadrant and wielder of the Blazing Helix attack. Finally, Lucemon saw Baihumon, the white tiger who was the Sovereign of the western quadrant charge in with his Iron Claws attack. However, this time Lucemon had time to react, and he managed to strike the Sovereign with his Paradise Lost Punch, sending him flying into the air. As he regained his footing, Lucemon noticed the four Sovereign had brought along five Deva as well as all of the DigiDestined, though the later were all clutching Baby stage Digimon. However, he was still outnumbered, so Lucemon knew he had to take drastic measures.

"Well, this sure brings back memories. The four Sovereign, once again trying to defeat me. Tell me, how is Fanglongmon doing? Is he enjoying that little prison I trapped him in for daring to defy me? Still, I'm afraid I really can't afford to stick around and reminisce. After all, I only have five Code Keys, and I really must collect all seven. I'm afraid we'll just have to talk some other time." With that parting remark, Lucemon materialized another pair of light and dark orbs, but this time crashed them together in his own hands, causing himself to disappear. With Lucemon gone, the Sovereigns turned their fury toward the only other Demon Lord in the area, forcing Tai to intervene.

"Hey, stop! Lilithmon's on our side now. She killed Barbamon and saved all of our lives. Besides, killing her would just make it easier for Lucemon to pick up her Code Key later. I don't think he's gone for good, no matter what it looks like. Anyway, he said he already had five Code Keys, and if he gets all seven he'll be able to open the gate on his own- wait a minute, if Lilithmon's the sixth Code Key, where is the seventh?"

"That would be Daemon," Lilithmon answered. "He'd been working on some backup plan to implement if Lucemon ever betrayed him, and he must have slipped away as soon as he recovered from Seraphimon's attack. Before you ask, I don't know what his plan was- we all had such plans, but we kept it secret from the others in case they would use it against us. As for Lucemon, he is very much alive somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds and working on subjugating the other four Code Keys to increase his power. As long as he is free, no place in the Digital World or the Dark Ocean is safe."

Zhuqiaomon snorted. "Do you think your vague threats are enough to save your life? If what you say is true, the danger is the same whether you live or die. You shall not be pardoned for your involvement!"

However, before Zhuqiaomon could back up his threat, all eight DigiDestined suddenly came together to form a wall between him and Lilithmon. While eight humans and eight baby Digimon posed no threat to the Sovereign, the determined looks on all of their faces were enough to give him pause. Joe used the opening to start lecturing the phoenix. "So, this is how you handle your debts? As I recall, you hate being indebted to anybody, so you do your best to pay them off. When you helped saved me and Izzy, I guess you paid off one debt, but didn't the DigiDestined free you twice, not once? You owe us, and you can pay that debt by sparing Lilithmon."

Ebonwumon smirked at how expertly Joe had backed Zhuqiaomon into a corner. The bird huffed before conceding defeat. "Very well, I shall make that payment. However, you are now directly responsible for this Demon Lord. Should she do anything to harm the safety of the Digital World, you shall share responsibility for the act." All the DigiDestined nodded their agreement, and the Sovereign began departing. Lilithmon turned to the eight kids who had just saved her from divine punishment, and for the first time she could remember found herself completely lost for words. Luckily, Tai started talking right away for her.

"Listen, you don't have to thank us. You saved our lives, so of course we'd save yours. Besides, even though we got off on the wrong foot, you started helping us from the start with information, and I could tell you were rooting for us to win even before Ophanimon freed us. You really aren't that bad deep down."

"It's probably because she used to be one of the Celestial Digimon in charge of maintaining the peace of the Digital World," Izzy added. Lilithmon gasped in shock, but Izzy just kept on going. "You are the one who told me to go see Minervamon, so why are you surprised I know that? She also told me something that might interest you: the six humans who wielded the Spirits of the Legendary Warriors are still alive in our world. In fact, only six years have passed for them since they were called in to the Digital World. I'm sure they'd like to meet you again if we could track them down."

"You'd really do all of that for me?"

"Of course we would," Tai answered. "Besides, getting you to Earth might be the best thing we could do. With Lucemon running around loose here and able to access the Digital World, it's probably the safest place you could be. It might even help me solve one of my own problems. I've been trying to get the Digital World recognized as a legitimate political entity, but I've been hitting some major roadblocks. However, if you could somehow get recognized as a refugee from the Digital World, they'd have to acknowledge the Digital World itself! I'm not quite sure of the particulars of how it would work, but I could always ask my friend Rei. She's been extensively studying the system for political asylum for her thesis, so she should know how to help."

"Sounds great," Matt interrupted, "but that can all wait a bit. Right now, we all deserve some rest and some decent food." Suddenly, he smirked at Tai. "Then again, there is one important issue we need to take care of right away."

Understanding the message, Tai suddenly smirked back. "That's right, I almost forgot about that. I did say the time for thinking about it was after saving the world, and I think we just came close enough to saving the world for it to count…"

The two older DigiDestined suddenly turned towards their younger siblings. "So, when were you two planning on telling us you were dating?"

* * *

Author's Note: So, that's it. We made it all the way through to the end! Never expected I'd get this far when I first got the idea to start writing. Now, I'm not sure when exactly I'll get the second story of the trilogy posted- I have a plot all written out, but something I learned from writing this story is a plot constantly evolves as you write it. That's why things like Dragomon appeared at the beginning but were then cut out, and the Sovereigns appear out of nowhere at the end as their earlier involvement was also edited away. Still, I know some things I won't be changing, and I think I've left enough hints for some people to know what's coming next. After all, things like the Digimon video game, Ken's Crest, and the name of Tai's friend wouldn't have been included unless they would come up again later, would they? I hope you will stick around for that, and I promise to start writing soon so I don't keep you waiting too long. It's been a blast,

Mathemagician


End file.
